Author: Alfredo Casuso

media contact:
David Perry & Associates, Inc. /  (415) 676-7007 /  news@davidperry.com

“But there’s something about longevity. Time can build a dialogue around your work.”
— Oakland artist Stephanie Syjuco

“Never Say Die” at 80: Bay Area creative Tom Donald
proves the ultimate second act may be the best one

Award-Winning Filmmaker, Musician, Producer and Advertising Creative Marks 80th Birthday September 6 as Never Say DieHeads to Oakland International Film Festival

Recent Telly Award Caps a Multi-Decade Creative Journey Through Music, Madison Avenue, Filmmaking and hiTrecords

1 September 2026 SAN FRANCISCO, CA: At an age when conventional wisdom suggests slowing down, Tom Donald is speeding up.  The award-winning Bay Area filmmaker, musician, producer and advertising creative turns 80 on September 6 with a new Telly Award, an upcoming screening of his film and music project Never Say Die at the Oakland International Film Festival and a creative life that continues to move in unexpected directions.

For Donald, whose career has taken him from working musician and songwriter to advertising writer and creative director, commercial filmmaker and founder of hiTrecords, the milestone is less about looking back than asking a simple question: what’s next?

“Turning 80 doesn’t make me want to stop creating—it makes me more aware that there are still things I want to say, music I want to make and stories I want to tell,” said Tom Donald. “Never Say Die is very personal for me because it’s about exactly that: recognizing that time passes, but refusing to let curiosity, ambition or creativity pass with it. I’ve been fortunate enough to reinvent myself more than once, and I’m not convinced I’m finished yet.”

That philosophy is at the heart of Never Say Die, Donald’s deeply personal film and music project exploring aging, mortality and the refusal to quietly fade away. Its appearance at the Oakland International Film Festival follows recent festival recognition and a Telly Award—an honor with particular resonance for someone who spent decades directing commercial work and seeing Telly statues in the recording studios and editing suites where he worked.

Now, Donald has one of his own.

The recognition is only the latest turn in a career that has repeatedly crossed creative boundaries.  Raised by a father who worked in New York’s legendary advertising world, Donald began professionally as a musician before moving into advertising, where his career included work with agencies such as Foote Cone & Belding and Saatchi & Saatchi. As a writer, creative director and filmmaker, he worked on projects for major American companies and institutions while continuing the relationship with music that had first defined him.

Eventually, music called him back.  Through hiTrecords, Donald returned to recording and producing, bringing together decades of experience in sound, storytelling, advertising and moving images. Never Say Die represents something of a culmination of those strands—but Donald resists the idea that culmination means conclusion. 

His story also arrives at a moment when assumptions about age and creative relevance are increasingly being challenged. Oakland-based artist Stephanie Syjuco captured that idea while discussing her own evolving career: “But there’s something about longevity. Time can build a dialogue around your work.”

For Donald, eight decades have provided plenty of time for that dialogue—and plenty of material.  There is the young musician who discovered the power of making music. The advertising creative who watched an industry transform around him. The director who spent years turning ideas into images. The producer and entrepreneur who created hiTrecords. And now there is the 80-year-old independent filmmaker earning festival recognition for a work that confronts the very subject of growing older.

What connects them all, Donald says, is the need to keep making something new.

“Creativity has never felt like a profession that I could simply retire from,” said Donald. “It’s how I engage with the world. The tools change, industries change, audiences change—and certainly we change—but that’s what keeps the process interesting. Reinvention isn’t abandoning what came before. It’s taking everything you’ve learned and finding out where it can take you next.”

Over the coming months, Donald’s story offers several windows into a singular American creative career: the evolution of advertising from the agency culture he first knew to today’s fragmented media landscape; the relationship between commercial and personal filmmaking; the dramatic changes in recording and music production; entrepreneurship later in life; and the question increasingly confronting an aging generation of creative professionals—what constitutes a second act when you never really left the stage?

For Tom Donald, the answer is contained in the title of his latest project. Never Say Die.

About Tom Donald:
Tom Donald is an award-winning filmmaker, musician, producer, advertising creative and founder of hiTrecords whose multi-decade career has moved between music, advertising, commercial filmmaking and independent creative production. His advertising career included work with agencies including Foote Cone & Belding and Saatchi & Saatchi, followed by extensive work directing commercial projects. Returning to his musical roots through hiTrecords, Donald has continued to record, produce and develop film and music projects, including the Telly Award-winning Never Say Die. Donald turns 80 on September 6, 2026.

About Never Say Die:
Never Say Die is Tom Donald’s award-winning film and music project exploring creativity, aging, mortality and the determination to remain fully engaged in life. The project has received a Telly Award and additional festival recognition and will screen at the Oakland International Film Festival.

Dolly: We Will Always Love You

— David Eugene Perry

Oh my: this is heartbreaking. I wish Dolly Parton could have lived forever. 

Every now and then, someone passes and everyone grieves. JFK was such a moment. Martin Luther King, Jr, Bobby, Princess Diana, Jimmy Carter. That’s the case today for Dolly Parton. I’m sure there are many people today playing her music in comfort and solidarity.

Dolly Parton was the voice of my Southern childhood, a Tennessee girl from the mountains whose talent, voice and consistent compassion and kindness were unequalled. Ditto for her embrace of her gay fans and the LGBT community. Just today before I heard the news, I had put on “Jolene” and “Nine to Five” (par for my musical course). 

When I was young, I played the album “Trio” (with Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt) so much I wore it out and had to re-buy it. Those three ladies, plus The Carpenters, were the soundtrack of my formative years. Patsy & Loretta, too. San Francisco’s Castro Theatre has done a tribute to her on their marquee.

Another reason to love Dolly: Travelin’ Thru” is an original song written and performed by country music icon Dolly Parton for the end credits of the 2005 comedy-drama film Transamerica.

Director Duncan Tucker personally approached Parton to pen the theme, aiming for an anthem that captured the emotional core of the movie’s protagonist, Bree, a trans woman navigating family, identity, and a cross-country road trip.

Below, some of favorite articles about Dolly and, perhaps, her most iconic song out of many iconic ones. 

Dolly, as you wrote and sang, so I feel right now: We will always love you.

https://www.thepinknews.com/2026/01/19/dolly-parton-birthday-lgbt-ally-dollywood-marriage-equality-trans/#page/

Finland, Estonia and the War in Ukraine

24 August 2026: This morning as we prepare to fly home from

Helsinki, having taken the ferry yesterday for a day trip to Tallinn, I asked “Steve”, our AI assistant, the following:

Q. How has the war in Ukraine impacted Finland, Estonia and the ferry between them? 

A. Quite profoundly. What struck you on the Helsinki–Tallinn crossing yesterday—an easy, almost domestic-feeling two-hour ferry trip—is now actually one of the important transport links inside NATO’s northeastern flank. The war has changed the strategic meaning of the Gulf of Finland even though, for an ordinary passenger, the crossing still feels remarkably normal.

Finland, probably the biggest foreign-policy change since World War II:

For Finland, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine destroyed the postwar assumption that Finland could remain militarily non-aligned while maintaining a pragmatic relationship with Moscow. Finland applied to NATO in May 2022 and formally joined on 4 April 2023. NATO itself explicitly says the change in Finnish policy was triggered by Russia’s invasion. 

That is an extraordinary historical reversal. Finland shares roughly 1,300 km / 800 miles of border with Russia, and for decades Helsinki carefully balanced Western integration with a working relationship with its enormous eastern neighbor. Today that border is essentially closed to ordinary traffic. Finland progressively closed its crossings in late 2023 after accusing Russia of deliberately directing migrants toward the frontier as a form of pressure; the closure remains in force. 

The economic effects are noticeable too. Russian tourism—once extremely important to eastern Finland and Helsinki—has largely disappeared. Russian airspace is closed to Finnish airlines, making Asian routes substantially longer; for example, Helsinki–Tokyo went from roughly nine hours to around fourteen. 

And Finnish defense thinking has become considerably harder-edged. Russia is now officially regarded as Finland’s principal security threat, while Russian military infrastructure is being expanded again near Finland’s frontier. 

Estonia: the threat feels even more immediate:

Estonia’s psychology is somewhat different because Estonia never had Finland’s postwar neutrality. It has been a NATO member since 2004, and Russia’s occupation of Estonia from 1940–1991 remains within living memory.

So Ukraine has largely confirmed what Estonians had already been warning Western Europe about: Russia is capable of invading and attempting to absorb a neighboring state.

The response has been enormous for such a small country. Estonia plans to spend about 5.4% of GDP on defense in 2026, increasing the defense budget from €1.7 billion to roughly €2.4 billion. That is one of the highest proportions in NATO. 

Ukraine is also much more visibly present in Estonia socially. Estonia accepted large numbers of Ukrainian refugees relative to its population; Ukrainians continue to constitute a significant portion of immigration—about 4,000 Ukrainian citizens arrived in Estonia during 2025 alone, although the flow has declined from the first years of the invasion. 

And Estonia is intensely concerned about Russian cyberwarfare, sabotage, intelligence operations and influence campaigns—hardly surprising given that roughly a quarter of Estonia’s population is Russian-speaking and the Russian border is only about 200 km east of Tallinn.

And then there is the Gulf of Finland: 

This is where your ferry ride becomes especially interesting.

The Helsinki–Tallinn ferry route itself has not been curtailed by the war. Quite the opposite: it continues to operate as an extraordinarily busy civilian corridor. Tallink currently advertises six daily Helsinki–Tallinn departures year-round. 

But the waters through which you sailed are now one of Europe’s most closely watched maritime zones.

Look at the geography:

All Russian ships traveling between St Petersburg and the open Baltic Sea have to pass through the Gulf of Finland—essentially between Finland and Estonia.

Before 2022 that was mostly a commercial-navigation fact.

Today it is a strategic fact.

Russia’s “shadow fleet”

A huge new issue is Russia’s so-called shadow fleet: often elderly tankers with opaque ownership and insurance arrangements used to transport Russian oil while circumventing Western sanctions.

Those ships regularly transit the same Gulf of Finland used by the Helsinki–Tallinn ferries.

Tensions became especially visible in 2025 when Finnish officials said Russia had begun using military aircraft and other forces to protect shadow-fleet tankers passing through the gulf. Finland’s defense minister described this as a significant new development. 

So while your Tallink ferry is making its completely ordinary two-hour run, there may simultaneously be sanctioned or suspected Russian-linked tankers, Finnish and Estonian coast-guard vessels, NATO surveillance assets and Russian military activity elsewhere in the same relatively confined body of water.

The undersea infrastructure problem:

This may actually be the most important change to the ferry corridor.

The seabed between Finland and Estonia contains critical infrastructure:

• telecommunications cables
• electricity interconnectors
• the Balticconnector natural-gas pipeline
• other data links connecting Finland with continental Europe.

Since the invasion, several Baltic cables and pipelines have been damaged under suspicious circumstances, dramatically increasing concern about sabotage and hybrid warfare.

One particularly striking incident occurred on 31 December 2025, when the Helsinki–Tallinn telecom cable operated by Elisa was damaged. Finnish authorities seized the cargo vessel Fitburg, which had sailed from St Petersburg; investigators found its anchor chain hanging in the water. 

That means the sea lane beneath your ferry isn’t merely transporting passengers. It sits directly above infrastructure that both Finland and Estonia now regard as national-security assets.

GPS interference:

There is another invisible effect passengers generally wouldn’t notice: GPS/GNSS interference.

Russian electronic warfare has repeatedly disrupted satellite-navigation signals around Finland and the Baltic states. Maritime navigation is protected by redundant systems, radar, terrestrial navigation and professional bridge crews, so this does not mean the Tallinn ferries are unsafe.

But it has become part of everyday maritime and aviation planning around the eastern Baltic.

Tallink itself became involved in the refugee response:

There’s an especially interesting maritime footnote.

After the invasion began, Tallink turned the ferry Isabelle into accommodation for Ukrainian refugees. Beginning in April 2022 she was berthed in Tallinn’s Old City Harbour as temporary housing. Tallink itself noted that the war created significant uncertainty in Baltic travel and initially discouraged passengers while the company was still recovering from Covid. 

So the ferry company you used yesterday was directly involved in Estonia’s humanitarian response to the war.

The remarkable thing is how normal it feels:

And this is perhaps the part worth emphasizing.

You sailed yesterday from one NATO capital to another across a body of water only a few hundred kilometres from Russia, amid:

Russian shadow-fleet traffic → NATO surveillance → subsea-cable security → electronic interference → dramatically increased Finnish and Estonian defense preparations.

Yet you drank coffee, wandered around the ship, watched families going on Sunday outings and arrived two hours later in Tallinn.

That normality is deliberate. Neither Finland nor Estonia considers itself at war. Their strategy is essentially to make the region so well defended and so resilient that the war stays in Ukraine rather than spreading into the Baltic.

For Finland especially, however, the transformation is historic: the country you just visited is no longer the carefully neutral buffer state that existed during most of our lifetimes. Since 2023 Finland and Estonia are formally military allies, and the Helsinki–Tallinn sea corridor now connects two countries on the same NATO defensive front.

Alfredo followed up with this:

Q. What about the economic impact?

A. Economically, the war has hit Finland harder than Estonia in absolute terms, but Estonia has felt some sharper inflationary and trade shocks because of its size and proximity.

Finland lost a large amount of Russia-related commerce almost overnight: cross-border shopping and tourism from Russians collapsed, eastern Finnish towns lost visitors and retail spending, and companies that had depended on Russian trade had to reorient. Energy was another major shock. Finland cut its dependence on Russian electricity and gas, which improved strategic security but initially pushed costs higher and required new infrastructure and alternative suppliers. Finnair was also badly affected because Russian airspace closures destroyed the geographic advantage that had made Helsinki a highly efficient hub between Europe and East Asia; flights to Japan and elsewhere became longer and more expensive.

Estonia’s economy was hit especially hard by the 2022–24 inflation and energy-price surge. Estonia had already been reducing dependence on Russian energy, but the war accelerated the process. Food, heating, electricity and transport costs rose sharply, squeezing households and businesses. Trade with Russia and Belarus shrank dramatically, while defense spending increased. For a country of only about 1.4 million people, the costs of absorbing Ukrainian refugees, strengthening borders and expanding defense are significant—even though EU support offsets some of that burden.

For the Helsinki–Tallinn ferry trade, the impact is more mixed. The route did not lose its fundamental economic purpose: Finns still travel to Estonia for leisure, shopping and services, Estonians commute or work in Finland, and freight moves between the two countries. In fact, the corridor has become more strategically important because Finland now depends more heavily on westward and southward connections through the Baltic rather than eastward links to Russia.

There have, however, been some negative effects: higher marine fuel and energy costs, inflation in wages and supplies, weaker consumer spending at points during the post-2022 downturn, and the loss of some Russian-origin tourism. Ferry companies also face higher security, insurance and operational risks because of Baltic tensions and damage to subsea infrastructure.

One especially important economic point is that the ferry is not merely a tourist service. The Helsinki–Tallinn route is effectively part of Finland’s supply chain to continental Europe. Trucks can travel by ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn and then south through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Since Finland has no land border with the rest of the EU except through Sweden and Norway—and its Russian border is effectively unusable—the Baltic crossings have become more valuable economically.

So the irony is that the war has made the region poorer in some respects—less Russian trade, higher defense and energy costs—but has made the Finland–Estonia economic relationship considerably more important.

Helsinki, Tallinn and Homeward Bound

— by David Eugene Perry

23 August 2026: So we get up early and after coffee and Wordle in bed, we head downstairs where the friendly staff at Helsinki’s Hotel Fabian has prepared us an early breakfast to go. On weekends, and today being Sunday, breakfast is only served from 8am onward. On weekdays, starting at 7am. So before our long flight home tomorrow, we’ll enjoy a wonderful Finnish breakfast. But this morning, we’re up early, and in our Uber, since the weather is distinctly Finnish, on our way to the port. It said it was going to be a 20 minute walk, but it clearly was longer. So I’m glad we took motorized transport.

The ferry port is not at all where we thought it was. In the center of town near our hotel, there are some ships, and of course the Ferris wheel that we saw earlier this year with its own compartment that includes a sauna. Gotta’ love Finland. The terminal for ships to Estonia is a bit farther away: incredibly modern, sleek, chic and oh-so-Nordic efficient design, built in 2017. We’re onboard before you know it and sitting in our wonderful M/S Finlandia Horizon seats (a “business class lite” upgrade installed this year) with tables, sea views, quiet section and vending machines. It’s kind of like premium economy and for only 10 euros more per person, quite worth it. There is a business class cabin for over 40 euros more per person, but certainly not needed today. Our trip today: $78 total for both.

The ferry is about half empty, and the size of actually a small cruise ship. We’re very excited as this is our first trip ever to Estonia. We set sail at 8:45am – 15 minutes ahead of schedule – so clearly everyone is onboard. They must mean what they say: passengers must be checked 45 minutes before sailing and onboard 30 minutes prior. This is not the Greek ferries I remember from the summer of ‘98 when I was on break from my working my way ‘round the world aboard Crystal Symphony. On those vintage Mediterranean Hellenic hulls, you could jump onboard at the last second, dodging cars, cargo and the occasional cat as the boat pulled away.

So now settled into our seats, we’re on our way. Two hours more, and we’ll be in a new country for us. 

I set out to explore. The good ship

Finlandia (vs the good vodka Finlandia) is bigger and more well appointed than expected. There are several bars, including an executive level extra tariff one, lounges with live entertainment listed, meeting rooms, quite an extensive buffet, restaurant, shops including a duty free shop with scores of people queuing up in anticipation of international waters I expect, slot machines (natch), a special “doggie toilet” on the lifeboat deck, and — my favorite— a “drivers sauna” specifically for commercial truckers. The motor deck also provides for private cars, but occupants must exit their vehicles during the voyage. Oh yes, and of course, there are private cabins for longer voyages and – you know… 

Built in 2001 by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in South Korea, Finlandia originally sailed the Mediterranean as Moby Freedom before being acquired by Eckerö Line in 2012. She can carry 2500 passengers and 665 vehicles and if 565 feet long.

Of note: Following renovations earlier this year, Finlandia is now the first partially electrified ship on the Baltic Sea, since Eckerö is taking more steps to become a fully electric company. Finlandia’s large-scale marine battery installation allows it to operate partly on electricity when maneuvering inside ports to dramatically reduce emissions.

We walk off the ferry and discover that I was incorrect. It was not half full, but rather quite packed. But we were luckily in a part of the ship that gave us breathing space. Clearly day trips from Helsinki to Tallinn are very popular. The ship was full of day trippers, especially since this was Sunday. We got off and immediately headed to the Old Town. It reminded me a bit of my trip to Odessa, Ukraine, now 28 years and pre-Putin ago. 

We walk to the Upper Town for a glorious view and spy some stone stairs to what turns out to be a serendipitous pit stop: the Fersen Baar, a truly iconic place. We’re treated to an Estonian gin, local sausages and traditional pelmeni Elk dumplings. Wow: both made Alfredo’s and my “Best Foods” list from our travels. We capped it off with a decadent Vana Tallinn spice and rum liquor. Thank you Boris! Below, a YouTube link about the restaurant and its heritage.

Afterwards we stroll past the historic — and somewhat controversial— Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. It sits right across from the Estonian Parliament on Toompea Hill. Built in 1900 when Estonia was in the Russian Empire, it’s dedicated to Saint Alexander Nevsky, a 13th-century Russian prince. While it is major landmark, some Estonians see it as a symbol of that era of Russian rule. Given present realities, no one here — or across in Finland — is happy to share a border with a country of increasingly Czarist tendencies. Many windows, storefronts and bumper stickers sport Ukrainian flags. There are no “we don’t need NATO here” illusions and no lost for the CCCP.

We meander into a square chock-a-block with quaint shops and fairy tale architecture of onion domes and towering wooden spires. Every third window seems to be selling something made of Baltic amber, and of course that reminds me of one of the now-lost wonders of the world, the Amber Room. 

Created in Prussia starting around 1701 for King Frederick I of Prussia. It was designed by Andreas Schlüter and built by amber craftsmen, notably Gottfried Wolfram, and later Ernst Schacht and Gottfried Turau. In 1716, King Frederick William I, Frederick’s son, gave it as a diplomatic gift to Tsar Peter the Great to cement an alliance. In Russia, it was later moved and expanded in the Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg. During World War II, Nazi Germany looted it and took it to Königsberg, now Kaliningrad, where it disappeared near the end of the war. Its fate remains unknown. A reconstruction was completed in 2003 at the Catherine Palace, but the original has never been found. 

Some say it was destroyed when Königsberg Castle was bombed. Others say it ended up on the former Nazi passenger liner Wilhelm Gustloff, which was evacuating German civilian refugees as the Soviets advanced. 

Tragically, the Gustloff was torpedoed by a Russian submarine on January 30, 1945 with the loss over 8000 (some say 10,000) lives: the worst maritime disaster in history. If rumors are true, the Amber Room is there too, crated up in the wreck at the bottom of the Baltic.

Until today when Alfredo and I were walking through the charming old town of Tallinn, I had no idea that the entire Baltic area is the center of the amber trade and still to this day, ancient, ancient amber is dug up and turned into expensive jewelry and other items. 

I did not buy anything of amber, since I was beyond our budget, but did treat myself to tiny little palm sized boat marked “Estonia” at the wonderful Maritime Museum, our final stop in the Fat Margaret Tower. Not only did I enjoy the seafaring history of this place but also delighted at the collection of fantastically detailed ship models from ages past into the present day.

As Alfredo turned for a final photo, he summed up the day perfectly: “This town has no bad angles.”

Now, having embarked Tallink ferry MegaStar (their newest, launched in 2017), we are headed back to our final night before home. Tomorrow, we’ll be in our own bed and Tuesday at our usual desks: jet lagged but on the clock.

For the last 78 days (including 28 at sea aboard Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam giving maritime history presentations with a total solar eclipse as a treat) we’ve been working remotely from Spain (our beloved Grazalema, Madrid and Santander), The Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, The Faroe Islands, Scotland, England, Finland and now Estonia.

I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes by one of my favorite writers, Mark Twain:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Alfredo and I are fortunate to be able to work-on-the-road, and — literally — lecture our way ‘round the world (thank you Geoff DeVito!). As long as my knees and knowledge, hips and hippocampus hold out – I’m in: have carry-on, will travel.

Ahoy!

Today, on the anniversary of her death, we celebrate the life and legacy of Rainbow Honor Walk honoree Rikki Streicher (1922 – August 21, 1994).

A pioneering San Francisco lesbian activist, entrepreneur and community leader, Streicher opened Maud’s in the Haight-Ashbury in 1966. For 23 years, it served not only as a bar but as an important gathering place and community center for generations of lesbians. In 1978, she opened Amelia’s on Valencia Street, another landmark of San Francisco lesbian life.

Streicher was also a leader in the early LGBTQ rights organization Society for Individual Rights and a passionate advocate for gay and lesbian athletics. She helped found the Gay Olympics — later renamed the Gay Games — and the Federation of Gay Games. In recognition of her lasting contribution to LGBTQ sports and community life, San Francisco’s Rikki Streicher Field in the Castro was named in her honor.

www.rainbowhonorwalk.org

#RainbowHonorWalk #RikkiStreicher #LGBTQHistory #QueerHistory #LesbianHistory #SanFrancisco #GayGames