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I fully intend to get back to my search for the Carter Family so don't worry, but in the mean time, I ran across something that really peeked my interest that I just had to blog about it. While doing some research on an unrelated subject, I ran across an article detailing a website of fans that were creating their own new Star Trek webisodes.

Since the cancellation of ST:ENT, or as it is more commonly know as, Enterprise on UPN, fans are hungry for more Trek. Starting with ST:TOS (The Original Series of the 1960's with Kirk), and ST:TNG (The Next Generation with Picard) along with the movies, it hasn't been uncommon for fans to fantasize about being in Star Trek by writing their own stories or publishing fan magazines or fanzines or zines as they are known as. I myself have been a Trek fan or Trekker (not to be confused with little girls who love anything with Vulcan ears called Trekkies, there IS a difference) since I watched TOS on NBC in the 1960's, anything new about Star Trek will at least cause me to take a pause if nothing else. During the mid 1980's through this last TV season, there has not been so much of this fan driven activity due to something related to Star Trek being in major production for the last 20 years continuously (ST:TNG, ST:DS9 - Deep Space Nine, ST:VOY - Voyager and finally ST:ENT and the movies).

With the cancellation of ST:ENT last year, fans raised money to continue it just to find out that Paramount, the owner of the rights, had decided it was time to give Star Trek a rest. This restarted the fan driven activity of the past. In those bygone days of the 70's and early 80's, many fan stories were created and past around via mail and conventions. This did continue through the last 20 years, but not as much as before. Now with the Internet, the worship websites turned into new fan material factories. With the cost of camcorders and computer editing software in the range of everyday people, fans began to create their own Star Trek episodes and started to post them on the Internet. These fan created webisodes were not much more than home movies with bed sheets and cardboard phasers battling aliens in the backyard. But Star Trek has been around for 40 years and has influenced many people in the entertainment industry and they began to come together to pay homage to Star Trek through their own stories and webisodes.

One fan took it one step further. A man named James Cawley had friends in the industry. He had been collecting TOS props over a ten year period and had gotten the original set building plans and with his own money and help from other fans time and money, rebuilt the original sets of the Kirk era with the idea of one day continuing the stories of the original series. NBC had cancelled Star Trek after only 3 seasons. Cawley's idea was to begin production again with season 4 of TOS with fans portraying the classic characters, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, etc. In 2004, he and Max Rem produced "Come What May" a story about two aliens who basically do a good cop, bad cop where one menaces a planet and then the other one saves them. The actor John Winston, who played Transporter Chief Kyle in the original series had a cameo as a star ship captain and Cawley himself portraying James Kirk. Cawley created a website called www.startreknewvoyages.com to promote and distribute the webisode.

The actual story wasn't a bad one (I enjoyed it), and the production was head and shoulders above anything anyone else had done, but it still wasn't anywhere near even the campy original series. Cawley had industry professionals helping, but in order to get his dream made, Paramount would only allow him to use the Star Trek banner if no money was made. That meant that everyone involved could not be paid and had to donate their time and money to participate. The CGI computer special effects were certainly above anything the original series had enjoyed, many of the props were originals used on the series and the sets were so good, you expected to see William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy themselves coming out of the Turbolift on to the Bridge. But the script was not very tight and the acting, was in many places, not very good being that most of the actors had either never acted before or were not up on the original series and the interplay of the characters. It was a cross between Wayne's World and an indie film. But the fans wanted more and wanted to be a part of it.

In 2005 Cawley and Rem produced another webisode entitled "In Harms Way" a sequel to the second season episode "The Doomsday Machine" with William Windom in a cameo reprising his role of Commodore Matt Decker from that second season episode. Also appearing in this webisode is BarBara Luna who appeared in the second season episode "Mirror, Mirror" where she played the "Captain's Woman" in the parallel universe and to round out the cameos of former Trek actors appearing as a Klingon, Malachi Throne who portrayed Commodore Jose Mendez in season one's two parter "The Menagerie." This webisode was better than the first and the acting was better, still not ready for prime time, but with the cast beginning to gel along with the former Trek actors, people in the business began to take notice including Gene Roddenberry's son Roddy Roddenberry who was a Consulting Producer on this webisode.

For 2006, Cawley and company landed ST:TOS's Executive Story Editor and writer of many well known Star Trek scripts from TOS, the animated series, and TNG. D.C. (Dorothy) Fontana and reprising his role from TOS and the movies, Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov for a webisode entitled "To Serve All My Days." It is scheduled to be released on Septemberer 8, the 40 anniversary of the premier of ST:TOS on NBC.

Mr Koenig, in a podcast interview, admitted that he was contacted by Mr Cawley and looked at "Come What May" and "In Harms Way" and while it was not up to the standards he was used to, he said he saw something unique and had to be a part of it, even if it meant he had to pay his way onto the set, like everyone else. He contacted Dorothy Fontana about writing a script and they began to talk to others formally connected with Star Trek in various forms.

For the next webisode "World Enough and Time" that starts shooting later this year, George Takei will reprise his character of helmsman Hikaru Sulu. Also appearing with Mr Takei is Grace Lee Whitney who played the Captain's Yeoman, Janice Rand the first season. "World Enough And Time" is being co-authored by Marc Scott Zicree and Michael Reaves. Mr Zicree wrote several DS9 episodes, the TNG episode "First Contact" along with the Babylon 5 episode "Survivors" just to name a few of his many credits. Mr Reaves credits includes a writing stint on "The New Batman Adventures", TNG episode "Where No One Has Gone Before" as well as many animated sci fi series and the Twilightht Zone episode "Nightsong".

But that doesn't signal the end of former Trek people becoming involved with ST:New Voyages. The writer of second season episode "The Trouble With Tribbles" David Gerrold has signed up for two scripts along with Ron B. Moore who is perhaps best known for his visual effects supervision on TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise and the feature film, "Generations". His film credits include: "Ghostbusters", "2010", "Frightnight", "Solarbabies" and "Moonstruck". Mr Moore will be supervising future ST:NV special effects. And even more former Trek types are coming on board. The actor who portrayeded Commander Sirol in the "Pegasus" episode of ST:TNG, Michael Mack, who's other credits include "Outerworld", "Head Of State", "The West Wing", "The Wire" and a recurring role on "The Young & The Restless." Mr Mack is also an acting coach. Former DS9 writers Jack Trevino and Ethan Calk have agreed to write this script.

But non Trek types in the industry want in as well. Leslie Silva, who was a lead on the recent Showtime series "Odyssey 5" has been cast as a guest star in the webisode "World Enough And Time."

So even though none of the above mentioned people will be paid for their efforts, it is quite clear that Mr Cawley and Mr Rem have caught fire in a bottle with many of the past Trek people wanting to be a part of this fan driven project.

With original TOS standing sets available, Sky Douglas Conway, head of PlanetXpo and producer of "Lady Magdalene's" and the "Roddenberry on Patrol" short films, has announced he will be producing a script written by himself along with Jack Trevino and Ethan Calk called "Star Trek: Of Gods and Men". This will be a 3 part miniseries using the ST:NV sets and in cooperation with ST:NV for technical support and additional actors. Staring in this indie web mini series are Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig reprising their roles as Uhura and Chekov, but in the post-Kirk time of Enterprise-B captain John Harriman, reprised by Alan Ruck. Tim Russ will direct, and will also appear as a younger Tuvok. The film will include other performances by Garrett Wang (Harry Kim of Enterprise), Chase Masterson (Leeta of DS9), Grace Lee Whitney (Janice Rand of TOS), Gary Graham (Soval of Enterprise as well as credits in JAG, Crossing Jordan, Walker, Texas Ranger, Ally McBeal, just to name a few) and Crystal Allen (from the ST:ENT episode "Bound" along with credits from The Sopranos, NCIS, Boston Legal, Sex In The City and Ed just to name a few), along with some special "surprise" guests.

If the music industry is afraid of artists bypassing the traditional record companies for the Internet to distribute their products, the same could be said that when the big media companies do not deliver the video content the public wants, the public will make it for themselves. Who knows, ST:NV may be the next "official" Star Trek when Paramount brings the franchise back in a few years.

There is another large website that has been doing Star Trek fan webisodes called Hidden Frontier from the time period immediately after TNG movies and along side Voyager. But that site appears to be in a time of change with several of their technical people and actors moving to ST:NV.

In the mean time, it appears that ST:NV is the place to be if you are into Star Trek. If you can get past William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy not playing Kirk and Spock, can put up with some actors who are not as polished as you might like, but some stories with real heart and feeling as if "The Great Bird" himself had written them, then you must check out Star Trek: New Voyages at http://www.startreknewvoyages.com.

Don't worry, even though none of the actors try to immitate the original actors, James Cawley does a good Bill Shatner even when he isn't trying.

In Search of A. P., Sara and Maybelle (Part 1)

I like to fancy myself somewhat of a connoisseur of music history when it comes to modern rock and roll. I am by no means the encyclopedia of the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame, nor do I claim to be, but being a radio DJ in the late 70's and early 80's, I developed a hankering to learn music history to go along with my already love of history in general. So as my better half will attest, the History Channel, and the many flavors of Discovery Channels as well as many PBS programs fill our home to help fill the bottomless pit I seem to have about various and mostly unrelated historical subjects ranging from World War II history to The Civil War (not Revolutionary War, no interest in it, so far) to the Roman times, all 500 years of it and the Wright Brothers, to name a few.

As far as music history goes, I have had an on again, off again affair with Rock and Roll history of the 50's, 60's (specializing in Beatles history) tapering off in the 70's and because of working in Country Radio in the mid to late 80's some country history, including one piece of personal history in the late 70's while I was just a part time radio DJ with an unknown group called "Alabama" and an equally unknown part-time high school DJ who you now see on CNN Sports, Mark McKay. (and no, McKay ISN'T his real last name, but Mark is his real first name.) But that is fodder for another blog post.

So a few weeks ago, after sweeps when nothing, and I mean NOTHING was on TV, I spied American Experience on PBS. It was about "hillbilly music" and the wife, being raised in the middle mountains of North Carolina, she was groomed on "mountain music," "blue grass" and "country music," I thought, well I can put up with this. It is only an hour show. I tuned over to the HD PBS channel for the widescreen version and American Experience began. It was an episode entitled "The Carter Family: Will the Circle Be Unbroken." I thought "Carter Family. HHMM. They are somehow related to June Carter Cash, wife of Johnny Cash. This might not be so bad." I am not a huge fan of Johnny Cash, but because I had seen the movie "Walk the Line" a few months back and I had come to appreciate him as an artist and performer, so all I really knew about the "Carter Family" was what I had seen in the movie (not much). And only other thing I know about them was they played "hillbilly music," Sadly, I really had no clue who these people were. At this point, I had no idea that A. P. and Sara even existed. The Carter Family to me was "Mother" Maybelle and the Carter Sisters, that June belong to. In reality, the "Carter Family" was actually a trio that performed and recorded from 1927 to 1943 and consisted of A. P. Carter on backing vocals and arrangement, his wife Sara lead signer and Autoharp and A. P.'s brother's wife Maybelle on guitar and vocals. They recorded the traditional music of the Appalachian Mountains that developed into Country Music and Blue Grass Music that then developed into the Rock and Rock of the 1950's. The Carters were the first to record it to vinyl and copywrited much of the traditional music that we know today. The arrangements of A. P. Carter are still heard in the music even when performed by today's artists such as Bob Dylan. But I am jumping ahead of myself.

The Carter Family (l-r Maybelle, A. P., Sara)

Within the first 5 minutes of the program, I was hooked. They had original recordings (did those still exist from the 1920's? They sounded pretty damn good considering they were more than likely acetates), how I don't know and even though it was indeed "hillbilly music," I heard country sounds like I had heard in the mid to late 80's in country radio and more of a shocker, rock and roll of the 50's and 60's with strains in some current rock and roll music. I was dumbfounded. How could this be and more importantly, how had I missed all this?

All of a sudden, it hit me why in the early 20th Century, it wasn't just called "Country Music" like it is now, but "Country AND Western Music." They were talking two different genre's of music that had a common element, the plight of the common man. Western music being the "original" common man's music out on the plains of the west like Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Tom Mix, etc. Country music being hillbilly music or more correctly traditional folk music that came over to this country by word of mouth and was basically hidden in the hills of Appalachia for a couple of hundred years. Songs that I had learned as a child and incorrectly considered "children's music" was being performed by the Carters and others of the period.

After the show, I started to do some research on the Carter Family. American Experience had done a wonderful job of telling their story, but I had this drive to learn more. They had been indirectly involved in one of my favorite pieces of broadcasting history, the Mexican Borderblaster Wars (Part 1 of the 1930's and 1940's and Part 2 in the 1960's with Wolfman Jack) on Mexican stations XERA and XET. XERA was a 500,000 watt AM blowtorch located in Villa Acuna (now Cuidad Acuna) Coahuila, Mexico just across the border from Del Rio, Texas with a daytime signal heard in all 48 continental states and southern Canada. XERA had started life as XER in 1932 as a 50kW directional to the north station and was closed down by the Mexican government in 1933 after Dr John R. Brinkley, formally of Medford, Kansas, had started the station to sell his impotence cure of "goat glad" grafting. He had done this when the US government did the same thing with his station in Medford, KFKB in 1931. The doctor packed up and moved to Del Rio, Texas where he started another broadcast company, and obtain a Mexican license and built XER just across the border and began again until the Mexicans closed him down in about 18 months.

Sara (l) and Maybelle (r) in front of XERA, Villa Acuna, Mexico

In 1935, XER was reborn as XERA by Dr Brinkley where Doc set up a Mexican holding company that owned the license, but it was run from Del Rio, Texas by the quack doctor. This time, a 500,000 watt transmitter was installed to get the message of "goat glands" to the masses. After the US and Mexico signed radio treaties to stop foreign nationals from owning and controlling stations, the Mexican Federales pulled the plug on Doc Brinkley and XERA was silenced again. But not for long. In 1947 the old XERA facilities including transmitter and antenna were powered up again as XERF with Mexican nationals owning the license this time and Del Rio, Texas lawyer Arturo Gonzalez selling the air time, getting around the radio treaties and through this arrangement this is how Wolfman Jack became a household word with the rock and rollers of the early 1960's. This is also the radio station ZZ Top refers to in their song, "Heard It On the X." (Borderblaster, Part 2) The Carter Family was heard on XERA from 1937 to 1939 when the Federales shut it down. XERF still exists with a Construction Permit for 250,000 watts but only runs at 50,000 watts these days with only Mexican programming. The days of the Borderblasters long gone.


Antenna system of XER/XERA Villa Acuna, Mexico in the 1930's

After Doc Brinkley and XERA were shut down, the Carters moved on to XET Radio, another border blaster, until 1941. XET is located in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico and also ran 500,000 watts of power aimed at the US not far from Laredo and Brownsville, Texas. XET's history isn't as storied as XERA but unlike XERA where the Carters performed live twice a day from the Mexican studios, on XET, acetates of their performances were created and then shipped to the station for playback. Many of those recordings still exist and some are available on CD in a 3 disk set called "The Carter Family on Border Radio." Many more acetates are lost forever being used by the locals as roofing material. Today XET programs Spanish langauge to Mexican citizens with only a modest 50,000 watts these days.

The Carter's radio show acetates were also played on borderblaster stations XELO, XEG, XERB, and XEPN. In 1941, the Carter's moved to WBT Radio in Charlotte for the summer season.

continued in Part 2

Local Boy Returns

"We want Chris!"

It was a day the Triad has been waiting for several weeks. McLeansville's American Idol contestant Chris Daughtry officially returns to the Triad and the area wanted to pull out all of the stops for him. Of course this isn't the first time the Triad has played host to a name made from that little singing contest that FOX runs every year.

In 2004, High Point's Fantasia (Barino) was crowned American Idol 2004 to much local acclaim just to have her turn around and dis her hometown in a "tell all" book where she admits that the Guilford County Schools left her academically illiterate. Even though Mr Daughtry didn't take the AI 2006 crown (that was Birmingham, Alabama's Taylor "Soul Patrol" Hicks) the future looks brighter for him.

His hometown of McLeansville spent this first Saturday morning of June honoring him and later in the afternoon, he and his band, Absent Element, gave a free concert at Grimsley High School in Greensboro to all who wanted to attend. At the concert, in true fashion, every entity that could hang on to his coat tails did from local businesses, local and federal elected officials and the governor's office itself. The poor woman from Governor Easley's office must have had too much Hollywood in her eyes because as she was giving Mr Daughtry one of many accolades, she misspoke. What she INTENDED to say was, "The first time you opened your mouth to sing, a wonder sound came forth." What she DID say was "The first time you opened MY mouth..." I just hope she wasn't wearing stiletto heels when she stuck her foot down her throat. Mr Daughtry wanted this concert to help the Children's Home Society of North Carolina and donations were taken for that organization.

Absent Element

Mr Daughtry, his family, band and close friends arrived in 2 very stretch limos with a police escort where they were taken around the running track of the stadium where the fans cheered and waved at the convoy and then to the schools field house. After a few minutes down in the field house preparing for the show, they emerged and walked over to the stage in front of one of the football goal posts. After an introduction that lasted too long and another 15 minutes while everything from certificates and keys to the city were bestow upon him, Mr Daughtry asked a simple question to the audience. "Wass up guys?! You ready to rock?!" The crowd goes wild and Absent Element, who has had a lead singer absent for the last 5 months begins to play. First song? Bon Jovi's "Wanted. Dead or Alive." Performed just like he did it on American Idol 3 months ago. This time, you could tell the improvement in his performance. As they played and he sang, you saw the same kind of style live that was on television. The IT factor that is needed to succeed in the record business was there on display in that high school stadium. He didn't seem to be a bar band singer, but someone you could see doing stadium concerts with people going crazy. The intensity that he showed on American Idol was there in front of his first "professional" fans. He also made a conscience effort to make contact with everyone one there. It was a beauty to behold. What he can become was there for all to see. He had graduated from local musician to up and coming star.

Wanted: Very much alive

Absent Element is not a bad sounding band. I was surprised how much the couple of cover songs they did sounded just like he had song them on the show. Most of the songs though were originals from the band's only release, an indie EP called "Uprooted."

As the show went on, you could feel that Mr Daughtry wanted this show to be just right. As important as every performance on AI with 30 million plus people watching were, this crowd of 3500 were his core, his base, his family and friends and in his short professional career, THIS was the big time, proving to the home crowd he was worth their time and support. The crowd was equally worried that they didn't disappoint him either. Several times he asked the crowd if they could hear OK or if they were bored. Each time the crowd responded enthusiastically in support for him and the band. I think neither had anything to worry about.

This audience did had a nice cross section of people. You saw the hard rockers in their tee shirts and barefoot, rednecks, older people in the 50's and 60's, and the "wine and cheese crowd" of men in their Izod shirts, khaki pants and women in their chic tops and pants and high heels along with teenage girl groupies that always hang on any celeb of any fame more than pageant queen.

As the show went on, you could tell that Mr Daughtry is tired. He had that drained look in this face that after 5 months of stress and being away from home can create. His wife and children sat on stage at the back looking on in satisfaction. On Deanna's face, his wife, you could see that all of those nights rehearsing, being gone to gigs not much more than orchestrated reasons for getting drunk and raising hell were paying off. People had come to hear him along with his band and not just for beer. And that was why many had come. To see and hear Chris Daughtry. Even though Mr Daughtry tried to play the whole "Chris Daughtry Show" circus atmosphere down, it permeated the air like a dead skunk in the middle of the road. The band has said all long that they have supported and continue to support Mr Daughtry.

One thing that came out of the Welcome Home Show was that he is on a different level than his band mates now. Even though Absent Element is a good solid band, they are, a local band. Mr Daughtry, on the other hand, is a "national name." He has doors opening for him that the others in the band do not have and may never have. Most fans of Mr Daughtry know he was in a band, but I would wager most of those people have no idea what that bands name is.

It was announced at the show that he has officially turned down Fuel's offer to be their lead singer. In my opinion, that was a smart move. After researching it, it appears that Fuel needs Mr Daughtry's celebrity more than he needs them. But on the other hand, in my opinion, if he sticks with Absent Element and tries to bring them along with him, you will never hear from him again. The public knows and wants Chris Daughtry, not Absent Element, even if Chris Daughtry is in the band.

And that is a hard thing. No one has anything against Absent Element, they are a good sounding band, I personally like them, but the record business is a hard business. It is built on a fickle lady called "fame" and she doesn't care if you live or die. People think Simon Cowell is too mean. Just the opposite. He has to tone himself down for American Idol. If he was allowed to be as nasty as record people are, he wouldn't be the person we love to hate. He would seem to be just plain mean. To quote funny woman Tracey Ullman who had a record contract in the 80's with Stiff Records in the UK, "Those bleeding record companies are nothing but thieves!"

Of course the problem is as simple as what was faced by three guys in a local band about to break national in 1962. Do they keep the drummer and stay a local band or go with a better drummer and "break nationally?" We all know that answer. Pete Best is a middle class man now in his 60's in Liverpool, England. His three band mates and a new drummer named Ringo Starr went on to be the best band in the world, The Beatles.

His final song was sung with nothing but his gutar. It was a song he had written right before AI called, "Home" and he said he was glad to be back among us.

But for a while on a sunny June Saturday, the local community welcomed home a man who is a husband, a father, a singer, an idol and a good man. I wish him all the luck in the world as he starts this wild ride of fame.

Thanks for the great afternoon Mr Daughtry. I look forward to doing it again soon.

A Son's Salute

Staff Sergeant George Layno, USMC, in 1944

Growing old is one of those things that no one can stop. Time marches on relentlessly. Memorial Day is one of those days when we stop and actually see just how much time has past. We honor the veterans, past and present, dead and alive. This is as it should be. Without them, we wouldn't be here, plain and simple. I feel very lucky that no one in mine or my wife's family has been/is in the Middle East this Memorial Day. That is not to say that there isn't a sadness that hangs over Memorial Day for me. There is.

In my immediate family, my father has been the only one to serve in the military in the last 100 years. (On my wife's side, they were in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.) And even though he survived (obviously since I AM here), his death 5 years ago still stings on days such as this.

Dad was born in 1917 to Slovak immigrants in Pennsylvania. His generation being the first generation born in America. When war clouds started gathering in the late 1930's, Dad joined the United States Marine Corps and served from 1940 to 1946. His first trip to the South was to Boot Camp at Paris Island, South Carolina and he went to pre-Castro Cuba to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base for amphibious training. He saw combat in the South Pacific. His first combat was on a small island that most people have never heard of and if they have, they have no idea what happened there and what this little island of volcanic origin has to do with the war. It is called Guadalcanal. It is an island that is a part of the Solomon Islands chain just northeast of Australia.

The Japanese were building an airfield on this tropical island less than a thousand miles from Australia. This put the island continent in real danger of being invaded. The brass in Honolulu (Admiral Nimitz) decided a stand had to be made and Guadalcanal was just as good a place as any. The Marines of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force would be the tip of the spear, and expendable. Just 9 months after Pearl Harbor, on August 7th, 1942, Marines of the 1st Marine Division, based at the newly formed Camp LeJeune Marine Base, Jacksonville, North Carolina were headed in to this ancient volcanic jungle. They all knew that if they couldn't get a foot hold on the beach, there was no way to get back off. It was literally do or die. On the second wave coming in that day was a green sergeant assigned to communications, Headquarters company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment of the 1st Marine Division. Luckily for him and the other 16,000 Marines, the Japanese had not reinforced the island and only a token garrison and construction workers were on the island. Within two days, the Marines had a toe hold on Guadalcanal and had taken the unfinished airfield, christened, Henderson Field, named for Major Lofton Henderson, a Marine aviator who had been killed at the Battle of Midway several months before. The Allies had started their "island hopping" campaign to Tokyo.

Dad would tell "war stories" when I was growing up. But it was years later that I realized he hadn't told all of the stories. He would tell of the time he and future Medal of Honor winner, Carlton Rue would go out "sniper hunting." As Dad would say, this was a fool hardy thing. He and Carlton would gather up all kinds of gear and go out into the jungle looking for Japanese snipers hanging in the cocoanut trees. Within a short time, both Dad and Carlton realize this was no game, especially when a Japanese bullet from a sniper whizzed by their heads. Dad would end the story by saying that they dropped all of the gear, including weapons and ammunition and as far as he knew, it was still in the jungle, exactly where they dropped it all of those years ago. Being in a communications section meant he didn't do many of the patrols and such, but he did get out and run telephone wire from the different positions back to the Headquarters and did run into his share of Japanese scouts. Dad got through the whole war without a single physical scratch.

Carlton wasn't so lucky. Before the Marines were relieved off the island, Carlton found himself in a fox hole with 3 other Marines during a Japanese attack when a Japanese hand grenade rolled in. Without thinking, Carlton jumped on the grenade and it exploded, ripping out his stomach. For his actions, Sergeant Carlton Rue was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery, quick thinking and saving the lives of three fellow Marines. Carlton was badly injured, but was evacuated off the island and lived into his 70's working for the Veterans Administration and remained friends with Dad until his death in the early 1990's.

Dad would tell of the night of the Battle for Point Lunga. Point Lunga was a small sand spit that came out of the Lunga River into the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese were desperate to get control of Guadalcanal and force the Marines back into the sea. To do this, the Japanese Navy would run what the Marines called the "Tokyo Express." This was an almost nightly convoy of Japanese naval ships bringing in troops and supplies and our navy along with the Australian Navy would take them on. On this night, the Tokyo Express were landing troops on the beach. What the Japanese hadn't planned on that the Marines had intercepted their communications and were ready with two defensive positions, one on each side of the sand spit and as the Japanese landed, they were cut down with crossing fire. Dad wasn't a part of the battle, but watched it from the river bank along with other Marines. Six thousand Japanese lay dead in the surf by morning. These were the stories I heard growing up.

About a year or so before his death, Dad gave me a book that detailed many of the battles on Guadalcanal. Details that I had never heard or seen before. One of the battles that it detailed was the Battle for Bloody Ridge, so named for the number of Japanese killed trying to take a ridge that overlooked the Marines position. This is one of the most famous battles of Guadalcanal. The mistake of the Japanese were they landed on the other side of the island and then hiked over the mountains bringing large artillery pieces and by the time they arrived at the Marines' position, they were in no condition to fight, but that didn't stop the Japanese commanders from ordering charge after charge after charge up the ridge. With the Marines on the high ground, all they had to do was fire down and the Japanese solders melted away, hence the name, Bloody Ridge. The attack lasted all night and several times, the Japanese sent solders in force to try and break the lines and came close to taking certain parts of the line on several occasions. As I am reading the account, a mortar company that was familiar to me but I had not previously known had been involved with the action jumped out at me. M Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, M-3-5. Toward the end of the Marines stay on Guadalcanal, Dad was transferred from Headquarters company to a mortar company, specifically, M-3-5. The next time I saw Dad I asked him if he was in M-3-5 for that battle. He looked down, distraught and said, "Yes, son, I was there and we killed a many of those slant eyed bastards. Either we killed them or they were determined to kill us. They shouted 'Banzi' all night long as they came up the ridge and several times almost broke through. It was the worst night of my life..." his voice trailed off and he wouldn't say anything else about it. For the first and only time in my life, he admitted he had killed men in battle. The "funny thing happened" stories or the "I saw this" stories of my childhood never had him killing someone. I could tell it bothered him badly. I obtained a renewed respect and love for him. I saw him in a different light. He could have said, yeah I was there but I wasn't involved or no I wasn't there. He was honest. He had seen the horrors of war, and didn't want to remember those times, but the "good times" of camaraderie or bravery of someone else. He never admitted to being a hero and when in November of 2000 at the ground breaking of the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC, some high school kids from New Hampshire asked him if he was a hero. He teared up and said a line that others have said, "no, he wasn't a hero. But he served with heros and many of them never came home."

Even though the men in the HBO mini series "Band of Brothers" were US Army Paratroopers (101st Division, US Army), I see so much of my father in those men. Simple men, with a terrible job to do, but understanding what would happen if they didn't. Unpretentious men, who loved their country and were willing to pay the ultimate price if it meant their children would have a better life. Dad never got to see that show, it came out after is death. But I think he would have love it.

My Mother tells of when they would go to the mall in Jacksonville (they lived at Morehead City, 30 miles from Jacksonville and Camp LeJeune) with friends of my Dad's whom he had served with, and would "hold court" while the women went shopping. He had a 1st Marine Division ball cap that he had pins from conventions and such that he would wear. All of the men did. The young Marines that were at the mall would recognize the patch and stop and ask the men if they had served. If the young Marine had time, the old vets would regale them with war stories of the South Pacific. They had them eating out of their hands. At some point, the young Marines would usually say that they hoped if they had to go to combat, they would have the same courage the old vets did. The response would be, "listen to your leaders, train hard, follow orders, and the rest will work itself out."

Dad died in May 2001 at the age of 84. I am thankful he didn't live to see 9/11. But there are times I wish he had. After 9/11, all of the things that he talked about growing up that didn't make any sense to me at the time, became crystal clear. How I would love to be able to talk to him about things military now. His beloved 1st Marine Division was the division that went into Baghdad in 2003 when the war began. Those Leatherneck's proved him right. They listened to their leaders, trained hard, followed orders, and the rest worked itself out. Better trained then he was. Better equipped then he was. He would be in owe of them and damn proud of them.

It took me over 40 years to figure it out, but not only did he teach me to live, in the end, he taught me how to die as well. For years he had said that he had had a good long life and when his time came, he was ready. The Marines had let him travel the world, he had survived, had two families with a son in each family, good friends and a healthy life. What more could he have asked for? Well in my mind, he left too soon, but he is indeed in a better place now. And on days like Memorial Day, I not only remember the military man, but the father as well. I owe him more than I could ever repay. My one wish is to be half the man he was. If I could do that, my life would be complete.

I love you Dad, and miss you. Semper Fi.

Another One Bites the Dust, eh maybe not.

Picture stolen from fellow employee Stewart "Lenslinger" Pittman's lenslinger.com blog. That is Stewart on the right.

I had no idea I would be blogging about American Idol so soon but here I am. Not that I am up in arms about the latest idol cast off, but it was sad when Ryan Seacrest announced that the last North Carolinian on the show was booted off. I had hoped that McLeansville's Chris Daughtry would go all the way. He has the chops and not one of those "idol" types. He is a rocker and we need more rockers in the world.

In retrospect, it may be the best thing America could have done for him. If he had been hung with the mantle of "Idol '06" for at least the next 12 months, he would be singing "their songs" and doing "their concerts" and "doing their events" and to be honest, I don't see Mr. Daughtry putting up with that for much more than a day at best.

I have never met him. I hope I get the chance. Had he not been booted off, there was to have been a concert with his old band, Absent Element, that was to be taped Friday and then shown on the show next week. I had thought about going to that and see him live. When the bad news hit, all of that was cancelled. So he now goes on a week or two press junket for AI, and then has to get ready for the finale that the Top 12 will perform in and off on the AI summer tour. After that, he is free to sign with whomever wants him. I see him receiving many offers. He is just too good not to be.

I saw the satellite tour interview of Mr Daughtry on our air this morning and he really looked bummed out. His wife had said that he really wasn't into it until he made the Top 24 and his take on things changed and he really wanted it and worked at it. I think if you look back on it, you can see how much he has improved.

Later in the morning on Ryan Seacrest's KISS-FM Los Angeles morning show, when he was interviewing Mr Daughtry, he announced that a major group had inquired about Mr Daughtry services. No names mentioned and it seemed Mr Daughtry was truly surprised to hear it. Later in the day, the entertainment show Extra announced that the rock band Fuel wants to make an offer to hire him as their new lead singer when his contract with AI is finished. They were impressed with his singing of the group's song, "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" on the March 1st installment of American Idol.

About 2 hours later, I saw him out of the corner of my eye on the FOX station in Los Angeles, KTTV, and his spirits seemed lifted over his earlier local interview. I didn't have time to listen to the majority of it (too busy working), but for the 30 seconds or so I saw, he seemed to be in a better mood. I can only assume the accolades from the other interviews he had already received as well as the news from Ryan Seacrest was a major factor for his better humor.

It would not surprise me to hear within 6 months he has moved his family from the Triad to the "left coast" as he either makes his debut album or is working with a major group either on tour or on an album. As they say in the biz, "he will land on his soft cats paws."

When that happens, he can thank American Idol for NOT making him their "idol." He will be better off.

A Little Girl in A Big World

I was awoke at 6:30 am by the wife to tell me that American Idol contestant Kellie Pickler would be at the station for the morning news and she wants her picture taken with Miss Pickler and needs the camera. Not what I wanted to hear first thing in the morning. ("Good morning, honey" would have been better) Of course the camera battery wasn't charged. I told her I would get up, get the battery on change and be at the station before 8. Miss Pickler wasn't scheduled to be on air before 7:30 and was to be there all morning. Well until the end of the show at 9 anyway, so there would be plenty of time for her picture.

I watch American Idol not as a fan but for work. American Idol having the largest viewing audience on television right now, not to mention in the Triad next to NASCAR races, is a big deal at work. If I am watching and something happens I will know it before the station can call and I have a good chance of getting it corrected before viewers start to tune out. Well, that is the plan anyway. The fact that in the top 12 we had three contestants (Chris Daughtry, McLeansville; Bucky Covington, Rockingham; Heather Cox, Jonesville) who are viewers of ours, along with their family and friends, makes it a good business move. (If you are off the air, you are not making money.) For the moment, Idol is paying the bills so you treat it with care.

Miss Pickler was on a publicity tour after being voted off the show two weeks prior. Being from Abermarle, a mere 60 miles from the station, we were on the back end of a kids dream come true tour. Miss Pickler has that awe shucks Gomer Pyle country hick style of personality. Just because someone acts like a hick, doesn't mean they are not smart. (Think Dolly Parton.) Far from it. Miss Pickler may not like calamari, or doesn't know the double entendre of "minx," but under the bleach blond hair, I suspected she had more of a brain than many people gave her credit for. Of course on a show like American Idol, it is shot in such a way, you really only see what the producers want you to see. Hype and image is king when you talk about ratings and the money it brings. I was curious to see if my hunch was right about Miss Pickler.

When it looked like there was going to be time for pictures, we were herded into the Production Studio where an "American Idol" set has been created. It is really just some very large AI posters hung from the lighting grid and a riser with tall folding studio chairs for sitting. Miss Pickler was shown to the only chair on the riser and asked to sit for a bumper shot to tease her upcoming call in segment. As she navigated to the riser in her simple outfit of a brown leather jacket, white tank top, form fitting jeans and leopard skin wooden sole high heel shoes, the look of an intelligent woman replaced the bubbly smiley kid that America has come to know. As Miss Pickler set on the set waiting for her turn on the air, her eyes darted around the studio drinking everything in. It is obvious that some of Hollywood has rubbed off on her and she has gotten quite good at knowing what she needs to do in a television studio, and not just the Hollywood fashion either, but the business side and what it takes to stay there and that is what she is up against now. She has been given a small window to try and make something happen that will last for a while at least. And she has her eyes wide open trying not to miss a single thing.

The floor director cues her and that big toothy smile turns on and her right hand starts waving and the Kellie Pickler that viewers have come to know and love comes to life.

After the bumper shot, she is escorted to the interview area trying to not step on cables and more importantly not to trip and fall off her heels and cause a commotion (how do women wear those things anyway?) as she dodges the paraphernalia of a television studio, where she will wait for the call in segment and where she could be on the air for a wave and smile if needed for more teases prior to her segment. Well no pictures, not enough time. Maybe in a little while.

I stood in the now darkened Production Studio and watched a very mature young woman, not a silly little girl, as some think, asking questions, answering questions and just enjoying life. Grateful for having the opportunity to be in such a wondrous position. I was impressed with her. She is naive, but not dumb (my hunch was right) and she catches on quickly. She understands she is not in Kansas anymore and really does enjoy what she is doing. What you see is what you get.

Growing up in a small town like Abermarle is unique in itself. But Miss Pickler has had it tough in life. No real mother, father who wasn't there, raised by her grandfather, and a dream to sing and get out of town to a better life. But in this short time of 4 months, she has gone from queen of the roller drive in, to heart throb of young boys and the admiration of young girls who can see themselves, through her, standing up on the stage belting it out. She seems to have discovered that being from a small town isn't so bad and the fame she has acquired could all leave just as fast. That "country smarts" of growing up in a small town isn't the big city sophistication and she may not catch on as fast for calamari or minx's, but she has good ole common sense and that will take her much further than "big city smarts" ever could. If she can muster the talent level needed and she can keep the breaks coming her way, her stint on American Idol is the start of what small town girls dream of.

Oh, yeah, the wife got her picture. All I got was to take it.

End Round One

Zacarias Moussaoui
AP Photo

"America, you lost. I won," Zacarias Moussaoui said, clapping his hands as he was led out of the courtroom after the verdict of life in prison without parole was read. As the only person to be brought to trial for the attacks on 9/11, he definitely wasn't the "big man" he wanted everyone to think he was. This guy needs a capital L painted on his forehead for "LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSER." Al Qaeda "wannabe" is a better moniker.

I hate to say it, but this trial lends credence that everyone one of these "Al Kinda's" need to be weeded out in a military tribunal than in the public court spotlight. Moussaoui, whether to his credit or to his stupid dumb luck, used our court system as his personal bully pulpit to spew what ever came to his lips, whether it made sense or not and the fourth estate, hung on every unconnected word.

I feel sorry for U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema who had to ride herd over this circus. On one hand trying to keep decorum in the court, while on the other hand trying not to trample the rights Moussaoui had being a US citizen. Now for the jury in this case, I have but one thing to say to them, "What the hell were you people smoking in that jury room?"

I know it was tough sitting in that courtroom with that nut case day in and day out, but how he was raised has NOTHING to do with the crime he was charged with. I know he wanted to die to be a martyr for his God and Osama bin Laden, and that had to be considered, but I would have felt MUCH better had they said they couldn't sentence him to death because there wasn't enough evidence or he was being tried for the wrong crime or something like that, but because his father beat him and his mother left him? Sounds like jury tampering by the ACLU.

This is scary. Talk about afraid of sending the wrong message, the message that was sent in big neon letters to the terrorists was "You can plot and plan and be apart of the worst attack on US soil, kill 3000 plus people and don't worry, we won't kill you. We will feel sorry for you. We will have mercy on you."

This is a war people. World War 3. And I think we should start calling it what it is. The radical Muslim sec has declared war on everything non Muslim extreme, including people of their own religion who do not think the way they do. The enemy has no mercy. Has no other desire than to kill Americans and western living peoples and those who do not believe the way they do. To topple our way of life and turn us all into radical Muslims like them, whether we want to or not. No choice of freedom there. Look at Iran and you can get a sense of what bin Laden wants. End of story.

As Judge Brinkema told Moussaoui that he would "live a long life and then die with a whimper" is true. It is also true that this is just the end of the first round of a long 10 round prize fight where only our freedom and way of life is at stake. You would think more people would get it.