Yesterday I drove to the little town of Piedmont, in southeast Missouri, to meet Gaylon Watson. Gaylon worked at KBOA back in the fifties and I have long wanted to meet him and capture some oral history from those early days of the station where my father and I once worked. Gaylon’s eighty now but healthy and sharp as a tack. His 28 years in broadcasting covered a lot of ground and we only captured some of it in this recording.
Gaylon’s eighty now but healthy and sharp as a tack. His 28 years in broadcasting covered a lot of ground and we only captured some of it in this recording. We had to leave some on the editing room floor because of the noisy restaurant. After lunch Gaylon gave me the “Chamber of Commerce” tour of Piedmont (where he was mayor for 16 years) and then took me to meet his three dogs who live in splendor on 20 beautiful acres in the Missouri Ozarks.
Category Archives: Friends
Misty Blue: Don and Suzy Akers
Last night Barb and I drove down to the Lake of the Ozarks to listen to some long-time friends perform. We first met Don and Suzy Akers when their bar band performed at a honky tonk in the little town where we lived (Kennett, MO). They work mostly as a duo now, dividing their time between the Florida and Missouri. For 40+ years Don and Suzy have been making a living performing in small venues. Watching them, it’s obvious they’re still very much in love. And love what they’re doing. [Here’s a minute of Suzy belting out I’ll Stand by You]
Tom Colvin
Tom Colvin died last night. He was one of a handful of people who thought I was amusing. We co-hosted a daily, hour-long talk show on a little radio station during the 70’s. The Grapevine was one from one until two each weekday afternoon and featured interviews, listener calls and such. But on most days we just shot the shit and it was great fun (for us). Tom had a really infectous laugh and it wasn’t difficult to get one from him. And he was a good sport. One year we drove a golf cart in the fall festival parade, dressed as Laurel and Hardy. We tossed out hundreds of photos (below) that almost nobody picked up.
Once a month (more often?) we spent our hour of airtime playing trivia with listeners. This was pre-internet so you had to know your stuff and Tom did. The guy watched a LOT of television. Here we are with the other members of our team. L-R: Jeff Wheeler, John Robison (seated), Tom, and me.
Tom was a hard-working radio news guy and loved doing play-by-play sports as well. I left the station in 1984 and Tom shortly thereafter, as I recall. He worked in a number of small markets in Missouri before failing health forced him to retire. I went to see him last September at his home in Rolla. Must have been 20 or 25 years since we’d seen each other. I’m glad I knew him. I’m glad I got to work with him.
Walkin’ the J-Walk
The first mission of the 2014 Soldier of Fortune Tour took us to sunny Arizona. It was 32 degrees and snowing when I left St. Louis… 90 when we landed in Phoenix where I rented a car and headed for Tucson to meet John Walkenbach (known to one and all as J-Walk).
I first heard of John Walkenbach some years ago when I clicked a link somewhere and found myself on the J-Walk Blog. I was immediately hooked. John was a prolific blogger with a taste for the bizarre. And always funny. And he had a huge following.
I didn’t know much about John until I spotted him on Google+ shortly after that service launched. There, too, he posted frequently and got lots of comments. Apparently many of the readers of his blog had followed him to Google+ and I found myself adding people from his circles to mine.
After I retired (12/31/12) and started talking about taking some trips, John invited me to visit him. Last Friday I hopped on a plane and flew to Phoenix, rented a car, and headed for Tucson. (It was 30 degrees and snowing when I left St. Louis and 90 when I got to Arizona) The scenery on the drive to John’s home was pretty exotic for a boy from the midwest.
I knew he and his partner Pamn had nice digs from photos John had shared but I fear I went a little Gomer Pyle as they showed me around. I leave it to John to share more, except to say there were guitars and banjos everywhere you looked. Gonna be a hell of a yard sale when John goes to that big hoedown in the sky. The view from their patio (?) was… well, it was a goddamn vista is what it was.
John took me to a great vegetarian restaurant for lunch, followed by a jam session with some of his old time music pals.
Back at Rancho Walkenbach, Pamn had prepared the best vegetarian meal I have ever eaten.
John let me ask endless questions about his past; how he started writing books; his music… I think he has a PhD in Experimental Psychology! That can’t be right.
It was a great day spent with two interesting people who get a gold star for hospitality.
White Horse Pub, UK
Keith Povall has been an online pal for years. He lives in Walsall in the UK where he and his mate (that’s the way they talk) Wally the Welder frequent the White Horse pub, a traditional pub that Keith says is quickly dying out. So we decided to visit (via Google Hangout). I love all things British and could listen to these guys talk for hours. A few minute should be enough for most folks. I share my poorly produced video here for archival purposes.
Drone video: Prairie Garden Trust (George Kopp)
Hanging out with Dave. And Dave.
This is the first Google Hangout I’ve actually enjoyed. Previous efforts were about learning the tools (I still need to work on that). This was a chance to shoot the shit with a couple of guys I find interesting and funny. I picked the radio topic just to get us started.
Had no idea it would run 45 minutes but that’s okay because we don’t expect anyone to actually watch this. David Brazeal left a perfectly good job to follow his passion. Dave Morris has been self-employed for years.
Prairie Garden Trust hike
Henry and Lorna invited me out for lunch yesterday, followed by a walk up to The Point and along Hiller Creek (Hiller’s Creek?). Things are just about to get spring-tacular so we’ll have to do this again in a couple of weeks.
Tree House
After two weeks chained to a cot in Mr. Domke’s root celler, the elaborate prank ended today. I’ll get you Henry!
Soldier of Fortune Tour: David Brazeal
I’ve started dropping pins on my Soldier of Fortune Tour map. I drove down to Springfield, MO yesterday to have lunch with David Brazeal. We worked together for many years and he’s self-employed now so he was generous with his time. We talked for 3 hours. As much as I enjoy digital communication, there is no substitute for sitting across a table from a friend. Looking forward to doing more of this.