About Me

Introduction

Scrapbook - P1

Scrapbook - P2

Scrapbook - P3

The PG Quiz

The Scrapbook - Part 3

A collection of photos that I'm always wanting to show everybody, most don't fit onto any of the other websites I do. Complete with the stories that go along with each. Most pictures have larger versions that can be seen if you mouse click the smaller versions, below.



Joan Osborne, October 6, 2002. On this particular night, Paul McCartney was appearing at the RBC Center. The price of a "fairly good" seat to see Paul was $200 and if I'd gone I'd have ended up taking my wife and kids, buying shirts, and spending well over $1000. So instead I decided to go with Steve Murry to Chapel Hill to see Joan Osborne at The Cat's Cradle for $15 a head. I'd been a fan of Joan's since she put out her first album Relish which contained the song One Of Us.

Joan has one of the best voices I've ever heard sing, and politically her thoughts are very close to mine. After the opening act, I bought a 25-oz Foster's Oil Can from the bar and went and stood at the front center of the stage right below the microphone and kept this spot as the place began to get crowded. Joan came out and stood right there—so close to me that my beer can was sitting on the edge of the stage about one foot from Joan's toes. Throughout the night I talked to Joan between the songs.

At one point I told her I could have seen Paul McCartney but wanted to see her instead and she seemed to be honored by this. At the end of the night she sang Make You Feel My Love which is a real tear-jerker by Dylan, and through my half-drunken haze it really felt like she was singing it to ME. After the show we hung out by the bus and the guitar player took a small Joan poster on board, she signed it for me.




Stormy, December 2003. Stormy is the mascot of the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team. Why in the hell does a hockey team named "Hurricanes" have a mascot that's a pig? I ponder this subject on a separate Stormy page (link below).

The original Stormy looked a bit different, his head was arguably shaped more like that of a cow. After a few years they changed the costume to make him look more like a pig. All it did was make him look like he was wired after two days of taking crystal methamphetimine.

But, there he is in all of his glory, with yours truly. Every time I see this photo, it reminds me of the guy in the Malcolm X movie who says, "I know what you're doing, you're trying to separate me from the pig, and I don't wish to be separated from the pig!!!"

More of my thoughts on Stormy can be found here.




I Have a Brown Belt, 5/20/2005. As a kid, I was kind of wimpy and often picked on. This was never more true than when I was in 7th Grade, probably the worst year of my life. So my father started taking me to karate class at Roanoke's Institute of American Karate, run by Carson Hurley. About six months later, one of the usual bullies came up behind me and knocked my books out of my hands. The last thing I remember is that I'd beaten him into somebody's open locker and was about to slam the door shut with him in it as I was pulled off of him by one of the male teachers. But, as was the case with nearly everything else, after a while my father tired of paying for this so we quit.

Thirty years later, I was excited to know that one of my new work friends, Dana Trantham, was a Third Degree Black Belt at Karate International, the school of Sensei Tony LeTourneau. I signed up and started all over again as a white belt. Soon I worked my way up through Second Degree Green Belt. Just before I was to test for Brown Belt, when sparring with one of the school's other Black Belts and getting the crap beaten out of me, I tore my ACL. I decided to test anyway. I think Mr. Tony admired my persistence and willingness to do this in spite of the pain. I passed!

A few weeks later, I had an ACL Reconstruction which rendered me fairly useless for about six months. During this time, we decided that—sadly—at age 48 I was just too old to do this without risking injuries to various parts of me that weren't as young and supple as they used to be. Alas. Well, my goal was to earn a Black Belt. I made it to Brown which was almost as good.

Picture: Me, Dana, and Mr. LT the night I was promoted.





The Other Pat Garrett. When working in radio, we often received "promotional" copies of records, intended for us to listen to and (hopefully for the record companies) play on the air. One day, a single came in the mail called "Everlovin' Woman" by an artist named Pat Garrett. His logo was done in an "Old West" font with a sheriff's star. I remember thinking, "COOL!"

The Other Pat has his own amphitheater in Strausstown, PA, about twenty miles from Allentown. He also has a gift shop that features sheepskin jackets and other merch, apparently you can go there and get Pat Garrett shirts, Pat Garrett CDs, Pat Garrett miniature plastic guitars and all sorts of other Pat Garrett stuff.

One day I decided to write him a letter. It basically said, "Hi Pat. I'm the other one!" He sent me back a nice little note, a flyer listing upcoming shows, and one of his bumperstickers which he'd signed with in invitation to come see him. Alas, I'll probably never make it there, but he does seem like an affable, cool guy.



Jack Fisher, August 21, 2005. From 1964 through 1970, all of us in Roanoke had the pleasure of being able to listen to Jack Fisher on WROV. Jack is one of the funniest people who has ever lived, and with his old partner Fred Frelantz, Jack played us all the Sixties hits and made us laugh until we cried. I got to work with both of them at WROV in 1981 (see "Scrapbook - Page 2"). There is much about Jack on the WROV History Site that is well worth the read.

Jack was one of the dancers on the original American Bandstand show during the 1950s. He then worked with Philadelphia TV stars Grady & Hurst on their show which originated from Atlantic City's Steel Pier. I believe that—other than Elvis—Jack knew all the music stars of the Fifties and Sixties including Bobby Darin, Peter Noone, Eric Burdon, Ricky Nelson, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and the rest. He is famous for having been the WEAM disc jockey who introduced Paul McCartney at America's very first Beatles concert in Washington, DC in 1964.

In the years since, Jack became a good friend. This photo was taken in 2006 at a high school reunion in Roanoke, which Jack said would be "his last ever gig." This was four days before I had a knee operation and had put on a ton of weight from not being able to exercise. It hurt to just stand up, but the pain was the last thing on my mind while enjoying a night with an old friend and radio idol! Alas, but we lost Jack in 2024. Farewell, old friend.




Barack Obama, October 2008. Campaign events often occur with very little notice. Such was the case this day in late October. I was at work and found out from my manager that Barack was going to make a speech in Halifax Mall, a large grassy area in the middle of six state government buildings in downtown Raleigh.

I left work early, came home and got Mary, and we headed downtown and parked in a large parking deck near the courthouse. From there, we walked the nine blocks to get there. Along the way, we passed the NC Board of Elections building and since neither of us had voted, we went inside and did so painlessly.

Upon arriving we saw a huge crowd. I spied Rep. David Price heading in a "VIP" entrance over to the side. Barack did a great speech that lasted about half an hour. When done, I bought several buttons from vendors positioned around the area then we returned home. A fun afternoon, and to this day, it remains the only time I've ever seen a person who held the office of President in person.




Peter Noone. When doing the WROV History Site and the yearly parties we did from 2004-2011, I became friends with Ron Sunshine. Ron worked at WROV from 1961 through 1963 and was the first person I ever remember listening to on the radio. Ron later worked for Premier Talent, the first major rock & roll booking agency in the USA, founded by Rock & Roll HOF member Frank Barsalona. Their clients included Freddie Cannon, The Animals, The Yardbirds and The Who.

And, Herman's Hermits, featuring Peter Noone as "Herman", who were mostly managed by Ron. Herman's Hermits were very popular in Roanoke where WROV played every single one of their records. They were also the headliners of the notorious rained out 1965 Caravan of Stars show at Victory Stadium (you can read all about this on the WROV History Site, above, look for "Herman's Hermits & Rain" in the menu on the left). Peter was also very good friends with Jack Fisher.

After hearing about them from Ron, I decided to order a thorough Herman's Hermits anthology from Peter Noone's website. In an email I mentioned this to Ron. A few weeks later, the CD arrived, autographed by Peter, who had also enclosed an autographed 8x10 photo. I mentioned this to Ron who said "I talked to him a while back and told him about you and the website. The other day, he called and said "Well, I took good care of your WROV buddy for you!"




Paul Stanley Meet's My Son's Wrist, July 2012. In his song, "Mañana", Jimmy Buffett said, "Don't try to describe a KISS concert if you've never seen it" so I decided to take Bryan and go see them at the Walnut Creek Amphitheater in Raleigh (which former Raleigh Mayor Avery Upchurch always called "The AIMPO-theater"). As a member of the KISS ARMY, I was able to get us front row seats.

Prior to the show, we went to the merch table and got shirts and a poster. Bryan wanted a red plastic bracelet with the KISS logo on it so I bought it and he put it on his left wrist. Then, in we went.

The opening act was Mötley Crüe, who no longer sported the poofy hair but were still kickin' ass! When they did "Girls Girls Girls" they had three scantily-clad girls twirling around while hanging upside down from the lighting gantry and lots of pyrotechnics. Then KISS came on, lowered down from above, with more fire and ass kicking. Being in the front, we were able to retrieve several guitar picks tossed out there by the band.

At one point, in front of the stage but behind the barricade, we spotted a photographer. The next day, the Raleigh News & Observer ran a story about this show featuring several photos, and I immediately spotted the one above. Down in the lower right corner, that's Bryan's wrist with his KISS bracelet in the photo with Paul. That's how close we were!




Paul Again! July 13, 2013 in D.C. Unlike the first time I saw Paul, I now had a son, age 17, who had become a Beatles fan. This is known to happen to people who spend too much time around me. I read that Paul was doing his "Out There" tour and they were to be at Nationals Park in Washington, DC—a town we'd recently visited and enjoyed. So I bought us tickets on the 15th row, and also tickets to get to/from DC on the Amtrak train.

And, off we went! On the train, we sat in front of some lady named Yolanda and her five year old son, Ronnie. For about four hours, Ronnie kept kicking the backs of our seats and we got to listen to Yolanda alternate between "Ronnie, you behave yourself of I'm gonna choke you around the neck!" and "Oh Ronnie, you're so cute, I love you!" Bryan finally turned around and told Ronnie "I'll give you a cookie if you'll behave yourself!" After that, for the most part, he did. Eventually, we got there, during that trip we visited the U.S. Capitol, Mt. Vernon, and Ben's Chili Bowl.

Paul's show was amazing, they always are, we've seen a lot of shows and this was among the best!




Ace Frehley, November, 2014. I'd been a KISS fan since their early days. My very first "DJ ID" was Bucky Stover saying "Through the halls of Cave Spring. WCSH and Pat Garrett!" over the intro of "Strutter" featuring Ace on guitar. You can hear this on the WCSH page in an old aircheck there. We'd seen KISS, now Gene and Paul and two other guys, in 2012. Now we had the chance to see Ace as a solo performer at the Carolina Theater in Durham.

I bought two "VIP packages" which included the tickets along with a chance to go backstage prior to the show and meet Ace. I told him that I'd just read and enjoyed his book. Bryan also chatted with him, in all we were back there for about five minutes. Ace signed albums and photos for us and posed for photos. After meeting him, in the back of the theater, we passed a big wall with the signatures of hundreds of the theater's past performers and signed it. Somebody will probably see my signature there and think "Hey, that singer from Straustown, PA was here!"

Ace's show KICKED ASS. He came out and did "Strutter" and other KISS songs, playing the same guitar he'd used on the original record. That sounded amazing. He also did many of his own solo recordings. When he played "Rock Soldiers" he got to the end and asked, "What did the devil do?" and we were the only two people in the theater who knew to shout out "HE PLAYED THE GAME WITHOUT AN ACE IN HIS DECK!" Ace invented the "smoking guitar" and sure enough, we got to see his smoke. All in all, a great night. Ace is cool!





James Taylor, 2014/2016. In an article I read, a writer said of James, "There's something healing about his music, that helps in hard times." This was why I became a big fan of his when he put out "One Man Dog" in late 1972. Later, in the early days of what would become a relationship, I learned that Mary loved him, too. I've bought all of his records and we've gone to see him in concert at least ten times. In 2014, I became a member of one of his fan clubs and for a while, had access to great tickets when he came to town.

And that's how we ended up meeting James. On two occasions, we were very close to the stage. And on those occasions, when the rest of the band took an intermission, James sat on the edge of the stage, allowing fans to approach him, say 'hello', and signing autographs. The first time, at Walnut Creek, I'd just taken down a flyer promoting the show from one of the walls in the venue and he signed it, he also signed Mary's cell phone cover.

The second time, knowing that he may do this again, I grabbed a small "upcoming shows" poster of him from the restroom at the Greensboro Coliseum. And sure enough, at intermission, he did it again. This time, Bryan was with us, we were on about the seventh row. All three of us made our way down front, waited our turn as we worked our way through the crowd, to the stage. He posed for a photo with Bryan that was on his cell phone and hopefully that's not lost and gone forever like my darling Clementine. He signed Mary's ticket.

Then it was my turn, I handed him my small poster. As he was signing it, I told him, "You've been one of my best friends for about 45 years now!" James reached out, grabbed my hand, started shaking it, saying something like "Well, a hiya, hiya, hoya, ho ho!" So now, I can say that I've met James—whose music has helped me through my own hard times more times that I can remember.




George F. Will, 9/10/2018. For years, I've read the columns of George Will, originally in Newsweek magazine. He later appeared on various TV news channels and is still a contributor to The Washington Post. Everyone reading this will know that I'm a liberal and George is a conservative, but I still very much enjoy reading his opinions which are very eloquent and well-written.

George is also a great baseball historian and writer. He's also life-long fan of the Chicago Cubs, we who have suffered every year of our lives other than 2016, and the writer of A Nice Little Place on the North Side: A History of Triumph, Mostly Defeat, and Incurable Hope at Wrigley Field which is the best baseball book that I've ever read. So, on a trip to DC to see the Nationals play the Cubs in 2018 (which was rained out), Rick Howell (yes, the same guy you saw two scrapbook pages and forty-one years ago) and I were quite surprised upon entering Martin's Tavern in Georgetown and seeing George sitting there at a table eating lunch.

We sat at the bar and did the same, all the while talking about how it was way beyond cool that we were eating lunch a few feet away from George. I said "We should go over and say hello!" Rick was a little hesitant to do this, we asked the bartender and she said "I don't think he'd mind." Finally, I said "OK, let me drink one more beer and I'll do it." I'd then had three beers, also I was wearing a Cubs Harry Caray shirt and figured, "I can do this!"

I went over with my camera, Rick behind me, approached him and said "Pardon me. George?" He looked up, like "Who in the hell are you?" I said "We don't want to bother you but wanted to tell you that we really enjoy your writing and admire you for being a great Cubs fan!" I was almost expecting him to tell us to get lost when he said, "Well, you know, we got rained out yesterday!" and like that, there we were standing there talking baseball with George Will. I asked if he'd pose with us for pictures, telling him that otherwise my wife would never believe that we met him. He did, we thanked him, then went back to our seats.

George is one of the nicest celebrities I've ever met. I still enjoy reading whatever he writes. He's an old-style conservative, one you can still befriend and admire even if you don't always agree with their opinions. These days, I truly miss them.




The U.S.S. Enterprise. I've been a fan of the Star Trek franchise going all the way back to the beginning in 1966 and including Next Generation, my personal favorite Deep Space 9, Voyager, and most recently, Picard. I've seen all of the movies. I've read numerous books about it. I intend to someday watch the rest of the shows and rewatch the ones I've already seen.

So, I was very excited to learn that the studio production model used for the original series had been found and was being restored by the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, and that it would soon be an exhibit there. This was the "large" model, with all the detail, used for the close-up shots of the ship passing by. The other shots of it zooming by, and long shots were filmed using a smaller version of the model. To learn more about this, go here.

So, the day after meeting George Will, we decided to go to the museum specifically to see this. It did not dissapoint! As a fan of the show, it's impossible to stand in the presence of this without constantly thinking, "HOLY SHIT! It's THE ENTERPRISE!!!" That day, it wasn't lighted, in restoring this they did fix the lights. I guess I'll have to go back sometime and perhaps it will be lighted then.

In the photo, you can see just how big it is. For comparison, standing in front of the Enterprise you see my friend, Rick, now known as "Dr. Howell." Imagine him wearing a blue Starfleet uniform saying "Damn it, Jim, I'm a doctor! Not a brick layer!"