Long-time friend and star of The Basement Diaries, Jane Marshall, was in NYC last week for Sheryl Crow’s performance in Bryant Park:
“Stayed up all nite making signs with my friends and left the hotel about 5:45 to make the walk to the park. Even though I don’t know (Sheryl) personally, we were able to get her attention and at the end of her set she gave “a shout out to Kennett, MO” that was enough for us. The concert was good but, what really blew us away is how beautiful Diane Sawyer is. I mean, TV does her no justice at all. We were in awe, she is just stunning.”
You can forget big TV stars and famous recording artists… Jane Marshall in the Big Apple is the show I want to see.
I’ve been thinking a lot about advertising these days. Radio advertising in particular. I have met hundreds of radio sales people during the past 30+ years. My father sold for many years.
Cliff Birklund (I don’t remember how Cliff spelled his name) was hired to do news at KBOA but eventually moved into sales. In a previous life, he was a commercial artist and I’ll never forgive myself for not saving more of his doodles. This one is a classic (have I posted this before?) but I’ve always liked this self-portrait.
Update: Bob Heater asks how Cliff could have –in 1978– doodled something on a 1989 calendar page. I left KBOA in 1984 so I must have salvaged the drawing on a later visit to Kennett.
Okay, it’s official. Lance and Sheryl are engaged, according to statement by Lance on Monday (9/5). Thanks to our Kennett sources, we had it at 9:44 p.m. on Friday (9/2).
Correction courtesy of Everett: “I expect this sort of thing from the Democrat (who made same error), but not from my hero. Peddling has to do with selling stuff out of your backpack or car. Pedaling is what bicyclists do.”
Bad News: Education in Kennett Public School System
Good News: Old Kennett friends read your blog and correct your mistakes.
Charles Jolliff follows up on earlier post about Katrina refugees coming to Kennett:
I found out where Camp McClanahan is where the visitors from the south will be housed. I found the place just east of Friendship. It’s two miles from my house and I never knew of its’ existence. Go figure. I’m sure you know about it though, 25 cottages, a pool, baseball field, a small serenity pool, and auditorium and a few other buildings. I ran into a bunch (20-30) of people and –by luck– talked to the man in charge, Lance Davis, the Deputy Director of Emergency Management for Dunklin County.
Lance said that this complex was a designated Red Cross shelter. There are 25 cottages in the encampment and I went into one and saw a clean and cool place that had two shower areas and bunk beds. That building could sleep 15 easily in just this one place. Davis was expecting 60 people to arrive today, but they were re-routed to a more northern part of Missouri. I also heard from a friend that Benton MO (ten miles north of Sikeston) has already received some people. As of this moment (4:45 pm, Saturday), there are no folks staying at the complex. Davis feels that they will receive some folks on Monday, but more likely Tuesday. There will be medical personnel available to check on the health of those that arrive.
The phone number for the camp is 573-888-6130 if anyone wishes to donate anything, or wants to know what is needed.
Update: First refugees arrived in Kennett late Saturday afternoon. [DDD]
That’s the rumor (unconfirmed but good source) from Kennett. Happened Wednesday at undisclosed location. I could find nary a word on the net. Could it be you heard it here first?
Bill Fischer worked with my father during the early days of KBOA and they remained friends after Bill moved to California many years ago. According to an article in the DDD, Fischer died this week at the age of 84. In addition to his stint at the radio station, Bill owned the Log Cabin Drive-In; was projectionist at Tommie’s Drive-In Theater; and ran Calton’s Donut Shop. Kennett landmarks all.
I love this photo. It was taken by Johnny “Mack” Reeder, probably in the late ’40s or early ’50s. Studio C was the big “live” studio at KBOA. Lots of gospel, country and hillbilly bands performed in this studio. The door was used for sound effect. How much fun was radio back then?
When I was a lad, the Dunklin County Courthouse was kind of a “big deal.” Big physically. Big because it was the center of “downtown Kennett.” And big because important, powerful people worked there. Or so it seemed. Photo by Charles Jolliff.
Kennett, Missouri hasn’t had a public swimming pool since they demolished the ancient, aboveground monster that people my age grew up with. But thanks to the generosity of hometown-girl-turned-superstar Sheryl Crow (and others), they now have the Sheryl Crow Aquatic Center. The nine-time Grammy winner came to take part in the dedication ceremonies on Saturday and Barb and I were there for the big splash.
I don’t know Sheryl Crow (I don’t know any big stars) but she seems like one very classy, very smart, very down-to-earth lady. She still sees herself as a Kennett girl. That’s home. And she’s concerned that the little town has fallen upon hard times, economically. So she wrote ’em a check for a million bucks to build a municipal swimming pool just off the downtown “square.” Which is slowly dying. Some would say dead.
But Ms. Crow is giving more than her money to help revitalize the town. She’s giving her time and her name and a little of her wonderful talent. She performed a few songs with a local band, The Usual Suspects. Her daddy, Wendell, plays guitar in the band when he’s not lawyer’ing.
I’m terrible at estimating crowds because I avoid them like the plague, but I’d guess there were three or four hundred [The DDD reports 4,000] folks on hand and it was a beautiful morning. I got to see a lot of old friends, many of whom I had not seen in 20 years. I took a bunch of photos while Barb manned the camcorder. We’ll get some video posted as soon as I have time to edit.
Following the performance, Sheryl held a little pool-side news conference [5 min] for the half dozen TV and radio stations on hand.
(Rumor: A crew from ABC’s 20/20 was following Sheryl around for some upcoming segment) When no one could come up with a coherent question, Sheryl took over and explained why she got involved in the project. Not sure if you’ll be able to hear it, but I thought the best question came from Barb, who wanted to know Sheryl’s best stroke when she was on the high school swim team (breast stroke).
I don’t know that a new swimming pool will save my old home town but I’m proud of all those folks for trying.
Special thanks to Kennett correspondent Charles Jolliff for link to photos of Kennett’s old municipal pool. UPI Super Photog Bill Greenblatt for the photo above and others. And Jan McElwrath and Randy Morgan with the Kennett Chamber of Commerce for organizing a great a event making us feel so welcome.
I’ve been thinking a lot about advertising these days. Radio advertising in particular. I have met hundreds of radio sales people during the past 30+ years. My father sold for many years. 
