Here is Brenna figuratively raising the bar ... by literally jumping over it!! (Minutes later, two guys literally raised the bar.)
She finished a fabulous seventh place in the multi-school district competition!
Friday, May 2, 2008
April 8th, 2008 ...
This is the first season that BMK has ever played baseball.
Here's his second at bat ... ever!
(Listen for a proud mother's squeal near the end.)
Saturday, April 26, 2008
My next new favorite band has actually been around longer than me ...
Every couple of years, I manage to stumble across a some type of hidden musical treasure: the musical equivalent of finding a ten spot on the street! They're usually hiding like the Velveteen Rabbit in garage sales and thrift stories.This time, it's the gold mine of brothers Ron and Russell Mael, better known as Sparks. They've been going strong for almost 40 years, recording pretty consistently too.
Describe Sparks? What about a mixture of Cole Porter, Queen, Supertramp, and the Pet Shop Boys? Maybe it's more like Elvis Costello at a Euro disco? Or Spinal Tap with pianos? Or an all-male, all-Dutch version of the Go-Go's?
What makes Sparks so amazing is that they 
seem to predate everything. New wave? They beat the skinny tie crowd to the bank by almost half a decade. Same with power pop, dance music, electronica, and big band.
seem to predate everything. New wave? They beat the skinny tie crowd to the bank by almost half a decade. Same with power pop, dance music, electronica, and big band.Best known for their 1974 U.K. hit, "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us", Sparks looks, sounds, and sings like they're British. They're not. Instead, they're two brothers from California.
Older brother Ron, complete with thin a mustache that makes him look an unfortunate cross between Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hilter, writes a lot of the material.
Younger brother Russell - a dead ringer for Jeremy Irons in his younger days - is the singer and often sings in a faux European accent. His constant use of falsetto makes him sound like a young Brian Wilson singing Monty Python songs.
Along with their witty lyrics and their great melodies, the brothers' secret is that they do everything absolutely straight faced.
Most veteran bands tend to slow down in their waning years. Not Sparks, they 
have a new album coming out soon.
have a new album coming out soon. You can find them just about anywhere on Youtube - as long as you're willing to weed through the six thousand postings of Jordan Sparks' "Tatoo"!
Tips for Teens
I Predict
This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both of Us
Get In The Swing (And yes .. that's one of the Bay City Rollers introducing the band.)
Perfume
Behind the scenes
Beat the Clock
Big Surprise
Wonder Girl & Do Ri Me (Yes, that Do Ri Me.)
Friday, April 18, 2008
The Regina Years Part One - "The Studio Camera Doesn't Lie" or "A slap's as good as a wink to a Best Man."
It's been two-plus months since I've dusted off the computer and conducted some business, so it's time to get yakking once again.
Spring is a time for new growth, and 'round here is no exception.
Adam spent a day "job shadowing" in the Kindergarten classroom for his Fall debut; Brenna had her 1st multi-district track meet, and finished a fabulous 7th in high jump; and baseball has been very, very good to Mr. Braiden! (Last Friday night, he went 1 for 1 with 2 walks, 2 RBIs, and 3 runs scored - this is first season that he's ever played the sport!!!)
Kristin and her best friend/step-sister will be off on a free Mediterranean cruise, while my Mom and I are taking a bus trip to Seattle to catch a 3 game series with the Jays at the end of June!
Things have been going excellent. (In the words of Borat - very niiiice!!!)
I got a fevered and passionate request to detail my time in television news -during what can only be described as "The Regina Years". (Okay, so it wasn't really all that passionate of a request, and "The Regina Years" was more like "The Regina 16 and-a-half-months"; but what's a little hyperbole?)
We moved back to Regina in 2004 to be closer to family.
Leaving North Carolina was tough. It's a great place and things were rocking personally and professionally. Good friends, good job ... and especially good eats! If you ever get a chance to binge on Lexington Barbecue and hush puppies, it's well worth the bloat! Once, while on the South Beach diet, I ate an entire pound of the BBQ'd pork!)
Professionally speaking, moving back to Regina was also tough. I had to start all over again. My first job back was at CTV. I knew I was in for an ego-blasting when the HR lady interviewing me was worried that I didn't have any studio camera experience!
Despite her concerns, I still managed to get the job ... as a part time studio camera operator. Here I was, with a college degree, 5 years big market experience, and a couple of awards under my belt, and I was setting up the weather camera at 11:15 at night.
On paper, I was probably the most over-qualified part time studio camera operator in the history of part time studio camera operators. Here's the irony: I absolutely sucked at studio camera! (Ask Kevin McKay about the time I set up the sports studio cameras backwards ... and had to change them around live on the air!) I felt like Donald Trump, suddenly being stuck doing his own taxes, and not knowing what the hell a 1040 was! (Imagine the Donald saying, "Am I 'Married 1' or what?".)
However, I grinned and bared it. I was lucky to also get on at Global Regina part-time also. This was a little more news and a lot less studio camera. "Thank God!!", said fans of quality studio camera work.
Eventually, a full time news photographer job came open at Global and I quit CTV. The folks at CTV were really nice and I really appreciated that humbling experience because I was ready to start kickin' @ss again! Come on, I've met Regis for fricksakes!!! Chew on that, Ikegami studio camera!
For those who've never shot a professional TV camera, it's a lot like operating a car. At first glance, all cars seem the same. A steering wheel is a steering wheel, whether it's in a Porsche or a Dodge Dart, right? But when used at high speeds or under dangerous conditions, that's when you find out the difference, and sometimes --- you also find the ditch.
Well, video cameras are the same. Every one has a lens and a record button. But every individual camera acts differently. The ergonomics, the color balance, the sound, the iris and the focus ring are never the quite the same.
So when you transition to a camera you've never used before, you suck initially. (This experience is similar to getting into the Wood family car after Kristin's driven: the seat's pulled so far up I nearly impale myself with the steering wheel. One these times the seat back is going to break and I'm going need the Jaws of Life.)
The cameras at Global Regina were DVCPro: the Laser Disc of professional digital video cameras.
(For those who don't remember Laser Discs, they were basically DVDs that were the same size as record albums. You could only watch half of the movie before you had to switch it over to continue on the 2nd side. My brother convinced my Dad to buy a Laser Disc player. It still sits in my Mom's basement today, along with 2001: A Space Odyssey, Maverick, and Diggstown.)
With the DVC Pro cameras, you ended up with all sorts of interesting colors. If you ever wondered what a person would look like through poop-colored glasses, these cameras made your dreams come true.
The problem is, video cameras are expensive. And to get good ones costs upwards of 50 grand. And good ones break just as easily. 50 large is a lot to pay to drop one in the Gulf of Mexico. (Ask the guy from WFTX in Florida how it felt to drop two in one shoot. One was Fox's; the other was borrowed from CNN.)
Thankfully, the people at Global Regina were much better than the cameras: although they each had their own entertaining quirks.
The first person I met at Global was the assignment editor, Doug Tabak. Technically speaking, Doug was the first person I heard. I had called originally from North Carolina, and I immediately recognized Doug's voice from years in Regina radio.
Doug has that low key Ben Stein droll comedy thing. To call Doug laid back would be an understatement. Doug reading aloud the Canada Post and Doug on fire would likely sound the same.
Doug was also consistent in how he delivered his assignments. The less glamorous VOs and VOsots were given to you with the accompanying phrase, "go ahead and swing on by ...". I can't help but wondering if Doug's wedding vows included "go ahead and swing on by ...". Even typing this makes me smile.
The next person I remember was the news director, Les Staff. While the joke's been done to death, I still find it entertaining that a manager's name would be Les Staff. Sounds like bad comedy from an HR convention.
When you think of news directors, usually Ed Asner comes to mind: wrinked, frumpy, old, crusty dudes with rolled up sleeves and gruff exteriors that mask hearts of gold. (Insert CTV joke here.)
Not Les. He's the best dressed TV person I've ever met. He had an amazing collection of suits and shirts. Honestly, I was jealous. News photographers tend to dress in shorts and T-shirts, and look like roadies for rock bands. (Like one cameraman who met the Queen of England dressed like this. "Greetings, your Majesty. (Pause.) Yeah, I'm with band. You want a toot?" More on Liz and Philip later.)
Les was great to work with; he was always up for new ideas. He was a cool dude, too. And with the exception of one time, I never got into trouble with him.
The Canada Games Feel Good Incident. (No one else remembers it by this name, but it's my blog.
In TV news, your story is expected to make it into the newscast in a specific order. If it doesn't get there when it's supposed to be, it screws everything up. Some of your less humorous and more embarrassing TV mistakes come when the story's not ready, and they have to tap dance until you get it there. I've never been on a news desk, but I can't imagine the angst of being left to twist in the wind because fat boy news photographer didn't get his work done in time.
The phrase for it is called "floating". I think it's called "floating" because it's the TV equivalent of passing gas during church.
This was during the 2005 Canada Summer Games in Regina. I was working with reporter Ross Neitz, and we pieced together a really great story about some of the feel good aspects of the Games. I spent a lot of time on the sound and unfortunately, the story didn't get done on time.
The problem was, there were other stories running in the cast that night that weren't as "feel good" about the Canada Games as our piece. So, they had to run the more negative stories first and then push our piece to an entirely different segment. Basically, it made the newscast look like the "Canada Games sucks" newscast. Not good.
So that was bad enough. Next day, I made it worse.
I was late.
Everybody was in the morning meeting when I arrived. When I came in, Les yells, "You're late!" This was not good. Turns out he had read everyone the riot act already. Somebody else who was less later than me had already suffered the initial public rebuking! So I'm late, and I floated yesterday, so imagine how much deeper I'm going to be in the crap hole!
Naturally, Les proceeds to give me the verbal business in front of everybody! I'm mortified. What could I say?
(It reminded me of my friend Chris's wedding. He was married in the Catholic church. I was the best man. I really only had one responsibility: provide the rings. That's it.
Now I was raised Catholic too. But the thing is, I never once paid attention to the ring transfer-portion of a Catholic wedding. It's not like passing the baton in the 4X100 metre relay.
It comes time for my ring passing and the priest lifts the plate of rings towards me. And I try to grab them off the plate.
Wrong!
As I put my fingers on the rings, the priest slaps my hand! During the ceremony! In front of everybody!!!
He says, "pass them the plate!".
I hear laughter coming form Chris's entire family.
After the ceremony, the priest is talking like this is the funniest thing he's ever done. Eleven years later, I'm starting to wonder if he set me up. Like this was some priest comedy thing. I'm imaging him, pre-show, telling the alter boys, "Okay boys, today we're going for the old grabby-grabby naughty fingers routine ... ten bucks says Mr. Glad Hands there goes for the rings barehanded.".
I'm thinking, "Why did we not go over this sooner?!!!" This was definitely dress rehearsal material! This should have come up.
I guess I should have asked. "Is there any reason, in advance, that you can think of, where you might have to strike me, in any way, during tomorrow's ceremony? I'd really like to steer clear of being slapped, if at all possible.". I guess I never thought I'd have to worry about being slapped on my hand during the happiest day of my best friend's life.)
Needless to say, Les's heck-giving wasn't as timeless as that.
Overall, Les was a great guy, and would play a major role later on. More on that later.
Join me next time when I tell you more about the parade of characters from Global Regina. Some of them were right out of a sitcom, I swear.
Spring is a time for new growth, and 'round here is no exception.
Adam spent a day "job shadowing" in the Kindergarten classroom for his Fall debut; Brenna had her 1st multi-district track meet, and finished a fabulous 7th in high jump; and baseball has been very, very good to Mr. Braiden! (Last Friday night, he went 1 for 1 with 2 walks, 2 RBIs, and 3 runs scored - this is first season that he's ever played the sport!!!)
Kristin and her best friend/step-sister will be off on a free Mediterranean cruise, while my Mom and I are taking a bus trip to Seattle to catch a 3 game series with the Jays at the end of June!
Things have been going excellent. (In the words of Borat - very niiiice!!!)
I got a fevered and passionate request to detail my time in television news -during what can only be described as "The Regina Years". (Okay, so it wasn't really all that passionate of a request, and "The Regina Years" was more like "The Regina 16 and-a-half-months"; but what's a little hyperbole?)
We moved back to Regina in 2004 to be closer to family.
Leaving North Carolina was tough. It's a great place and things were rocking personally and professionally. Good friends, good job ... and especially good eats! If you ever get a chance to binge on Lexington Barbecue and hush puppies, it's well worth the bloat! Once, while on the South Beach diet, I ate an entire pound of the BBQ'd pork!)
Professionally speaking, moving back to Regina was also tough. I had to start all over again. My first job back was at CTV. I knew I was in for an ego-blasting when the HR lady interviewing me was worried that I didn't have any studio camera experience!
Despite her concerns, I still managed to get the job ... as a part time studio camera operator. Here I was, with a college degree, 5 years big market experience, and a couple of awards under my belt, and I was setting up the weather camera at 11:15 at night.
On paper, I was probably the most over-qualified part time studio camera operator in the history of part time studio camera operators. Here's the irony: I absolutely sucked at studio camera! (Ask Kevin McKay about the time I set up the sports studio cameras backwards ... and had to change them around live on the air!) I felt like Donald Trump, suddenly being stuck doing his own taxes, and not knowing what the hell a 1040 was! (Imagine the Donald saying, "Am I 'Married 1' or what?".)
However, I grinned and bared it. I was lucky to also get on at Global Regina part-time also. This was a little more news and a lot less studio camera. "Thank God!!", said fans of quality studio camera work.
Eventually, a full time news photographer job came open at Global and I quit CTV. The folks at CTV were really nice and I really appreciated that humbling experience because I was ready to start kickin' @ss again! Come on, I've met Regis for fricksakes!!! Chew on that, Ikegami studio camera!
For those who've never shot a professional TV camera, it's a lot like operating a car. At first glance, all cars seem the same. A steering wheel is a steering wheel, whether it's in a Porsche or a Dodge Dart, right? But when used at high speeds or under dangerous conditions, that's when you find out the difference, and sometimes --- you also find the ditch.
Well, video cameras are the same. Every one has a lens and a record button. But every individual camera acts differently. The ergonomics, the color balance, the sound, the iris and the focus ring are never the quite the same.
So when you transition to a camera you've never used before, you suck initially. (This experience is similar to getting into the Wood family car after Kristin's driven: the seat's pulled so far up I nearly impale myself with the steering wheel. One these times the seat back is going to break and I'm going need the Jaws of Life.)
The cameras at Global Regina were DVCPro: the Laser Disc of professional digital video cameras.
(For those who don't remember Laser Discs, they were basically DVDs that were the same size as record albums. You could only watch half of the movie before you had to switch it over to continue on the 2nd side. My brother convinced my Dad to buy a Laser Disc player. It still sits in my Mom's basement today, along with 2001: A Space Odyssey, Maverick, and Diggstown.)
With the DVC Pro cameras, you ended up with all sorts of interesting colors. If you ever wondered what a person would look like through poop-colored glasses, these cameras made your dreams come true.
The problem is, video cameras are expensive. And to get good ones costs upwards of 50 grand. And good ones break just as easily. 50 large is a lot to pay to drop one in the Gulf of Mexico. (Ask the guy from WFTX in Florida how it felt to drop two in one shoot. One was Fox's; the other was borrowed from CNN.)
Thankfully, the people at Global Regina were much better than the cameras: although they each had their own entertaining quirks.
The first person I met at Global was the assignment editor, Doug Tabak. Technically speaking, Doug was the first person I heard. I had called originally from North Carolina, and I immediately recognized Doug's voice from years in Regina radio.
Doug has that low key Ben Stein droll comedy thing. To call Doug laid back would be an understatement. Doug reading aloud the Canada Post and Doug on fire would likely sound the same.
Doug was also consistent in how he delivered his assignments. The less glamorous VOs and VOsots were given to you with the accompanying phrase, "go ahead and swing on by ...". I can't help but wondering if Doug's wedding vows included "go ahead and swing on by ...". Even typing this makes me smile.
The next person I remember was the news director, Les Staff. While the joke's been done to death, I still find it entertaining that a manager's name would be Les Staff. Sounds like bad comedy from an HR convention.
When you think of news directors, usually Ed Asner comes to mind: wrinked, frumpy, old, crusty dudes with rolled up sleeves and gruff exteriors that mask hearts of gold. (Insert CTV joke here.)
Not Les. He's the best dressed TV person I've ever met. He had an amazing collection of suits and shirts. Honestly, I was jealous. News photographers tend to dress in shorts and T-shirts, and look like roadies for rock bands. (Like one cameraman who met the Queen of England dressed like this. "Greetings, your Majesty. (Pause.) Yeah, I'm with band. You want a toot?" More on Liz and Philip later.)
Les was great to work with; he was always up for new ideas. He was a cool dude, too. And with the exception of one time, I never got into trouble with him.
The Canada Games Feel Good Incident. (No one else remembers it by this name, but it's my blog.
In TV news, your story is expected to make it into the newscast in a specific order. If it doesn't get there when it's supposed to be, it screws everything up. Some of your less humorous and more embarrassing TV mistakes come when the story's not ready, and they have to tap dance until you get it there. I've never been on a news desk, but I can't imagine the angst of being left to twist in the wind because fat boy news photographer didn't get his work done in time.
The phrase for it is called "floating". I think it's called "floating" because it's the TV equivalent of passing gas during church.
This was during the 2005 Canada Summer Games in Regina. I was working with reporter Ross Neitz, and we pieced together a really great story about some of the feel good aspects of the Games. I spent a lot of time on the sound and unfortunately, the story didn't get done on time.
The problem was, there were other stories running in the cast that night that weren't as "feel good" about the Canada Games as our piece. So, they had to run the more negative stories first and then push our piece to an entirely different segment. Basically, it made the newscast look like the "Canada Games sucks" newscast. Not good.
So that was bad enough. Next day, I made it worse.
I was late.
Everybody was in the morning meeting when I arrived. When I came in, Les yells, "You're late!" This was not good. Turns out he had read everyone the riot act already. Somebody else who was less later than me had already suffered the initial public rebuking! So I'm late, and I floated yesterday, so imagine how much deeper I'm going to be in the crap hole!
Naturally, Les proceeds to give me the verbal business in front of everybody! I'm mortified. What could I say?
(It reminded me of my friend Chris's wedding. He was married in the Catholic church. I was the best man. I really only had one responsibility: provide the rings. That's it.
Now I was raised Catholic too. But the thing is, I never once paid attention to the ring transfer-portion of a Catholic wedding. It's not like passing the baton in the 4X100 metre relay.
It comes time for my ring passing and the priest lifts the plate of rings towards me. And I try to grab them off the plate.
Wrong!
As I put my fingers on the rings, the priest slaps my hand! During the ceremony! In front of everybody!!!
He says, "pass them the plate!".
I hear laughter coming form Chris's entire family.
After the ceremony, the priest is talking like this is the funniest thing he's ever done. Eleven years later, I'm starting to wonder if he set me up. Like this was some priest comedy thing. I'm imaging him, pre-show, telling the alter boys, "Okay boys, today we're going for the old grabby-grabby naughty fingers routine ... ten bucks says Mr. Glad Hands there goes for the rings barehanded.".
I'm thinking, "Why did we not go over this sooner?!!!" This was definitely dress rehearsal material! This should have come up.
I guess I should have asked. "Is there any reason, in advance, that you can think of, where you might have to strike me, in any way, during tomorrow's ceremony? I'd really like to steer clear of being slapped, if at all possible.". I guess I never thought I'd have to worry about being slapped on my hand during the happiest day of my best friend's life.)
Needless to say, Les's heck-giving wasn't as timeless as that.
Overall, Les was a great guy, and would play a major role later on. More on that later.
Join me next time when I tell you more about the parade of characters from Global Regina. Some of them were right out of a sitcom, I swear.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
To all the stations I've loved before ...
The television stations where I worked - part one.
KXMC TV - Minot, North Dakota
I worked for a while on the weekends to help my wife. (She was what they call a one man band - shooting and reporting and editing.) This is where I fell in love with the business.
WBBH/WZVN - Fort Myers, Florida
Kristin got a job at the nearby Fox affilliate and we moved down to FLA in 1999. I ended up getting a job at the competiting station - technically, the competiting stations. Waterman Broadcasting had what's known as an LMA - a local management agreement. The two stations shared resources: equipment, staff, management, They did have seperate newscasts and seperate on-air personalities. As a photog, you had make sure that you had both station shirts with you, as you could never predict with whom you'd be shooting.
WFTX - Cape Coral, Florida
With Kristin already working there, it was only a matter of time before I jumped over. I wanted to be with my wife. Eventually, a position opened up and it also got me off weekends.
When I gave my two week notice at Waterman Broadcasting, they asked me to leave the building that day. I guess they were worried I'd give secrets to the enemy. It kind of made me feel like a criminal. What really sucked is that I ended up leaving behind my raw tape of an interview with Regis Philbin. (It took me a while to get past that.)
Fox 4 was where I learned to shoot and edit. There were lots of talented folks who gave me tips and hints, but who also let me run wild. Of particular influence was the great Mark Current, a great editor and a fellow lover of 70's music. Mark was the first guy who made me feel like I could actually do this business. It's been ages since I've heard from Mark - I'd love to track him down.
I've written before about the great times I had in SW Florida. It was one of those times when the stars align and everything works out perfect.
KXJB - Fargo, North Dakota
However, we missed family. Kristin wanted to get closer to home. We discovered a posting on-line and I sent a tape to Fargo, North Dakota. Both Kristin and I got jobs.
In 2001 we moved to Fargo's sister city of Moorhead, Minnesota. I got a job as the chief of photography at CBS 4.
It was like entering a time wrap. The facilities were old, the gear suspect, and the stories slow and featurey - dull compared the fast paced doom and disaster of SWFL. It took a while to get used to. I wasn't experienced enough to know what to do with the limited equipmemt. There was no frame-field setting that made my feature stories look like film. There was no digital format to smoothly slow mo. No mixing board to screw with the sound.
It was like learning all over again.
But I learned to work with what I had. And, after a while, I fell in love with the people the same way I had in Florida.
There were so many different cats in Fargo.
Bruce Asbury - the veteran, hippy dippy noon weather guy with the outrageous sense of humor. Bruce would often whip off his toupee like Rip Taylor. He even did it from time to time in his stories. His regular feature - a travelogue piece called "Trip on A Tankful", was about different people and places in The Red River Valley area.
During the long car rides covering these stories, Bruce and I yakked for hours about baseball and historical events. Bruce was older than I was - I often joked that he was so old he remembered walking out of the Primordial Mist - so he had a larger specturm of reference. I loved hearing about Frank Sinatra and Hank Greenberg and where he was Kennedy was shot. (Or was that when Lincoln was shot?)
Bruce reminded me of a less effeminate Paul Lynnde. He had catch-phrases like "Oh Man" and "Unbelievable".
Norm Bell - former football player and fellow photographer. A very nice man and the only African-American man I know who likes Steely Dan and Jellyfish. (This is because I don't know many African Americans.) He was very kind to my kids and he had a great sense of humor. He was often threatened with being on the receiving end of my hugs!
Wade Iverson - Wade is one of those guys that you swear you've met hundreds of time before. A sweet fellow who was always there was a cigarrette and a joke. Wade and I would get going doing different voices: most popular was one based a street-light repair man we saw often working in the nearby Target parking lot. We never named the Latin-voiced character who constantly bitched at his co-worker "Carlos".
Seth Oeltjebruns - Seth was a good kid with a great sense of humor. He really got into shooting and did a nice job. He too was great with my kids and a good friend.
There were so many good people in Fargo TV. But unfortunately, the marketplace doesn't always dicate things are going to stay good. In 2003, KXJB was taken into an LMA with the local NBC station. When the stations merged, I was going to lose my Chief's title to guy with a wealth of talent and a twenty years experience. (However, I likely wouldn't have lost my job as we were so woefully underpaid at KXJB that I probably was looking at a raise to be just a staff photog at the new company.)
However, Adam had been just born, and Kristin wasn't working. Soon enough, we'd be paying a fortunate in day care if Kristin ever wanted to work. So I decided to feel out the job market around the country. (Besides my teenage ego was rubbed the wrong way with the prospect of being demoted.)
I managed to stumble upon a job oppurtunity in Greensboro, North Carolina where I could basically double my income while working Monday to Friday 9-6! The cost of lving was cheap, the equipment was great, I'd have my own vehicle - albeit a Ford conversion Live truck with a micrwave dish on top - and I got to work with my single favorite human being in the news business ever.
But that's part two!
KXMC TV - Minot, North Dakota
I worked for a while on the weekends to help my wife. (She was what they call a one man band - shooting and reporting and editing.) This is where I fell in love with the business.
WBBH/WZVN - Fort Myers, Florida
Kristin got a job at the nearby Fox affilliate and we moved down to FLA in 1999. I ended up getting a job at the competiting station - technically, the competiting stations. Waterman Broadcasting had what's known as an LMA - a local management agreement. The two stations shared resources: equipment, staff, management, They did have seperate newscasts and seperate on-air personalities. As a photog, you had make sure that you had both station shirts with you, as you could never predict with whom you'd be shooting.
WFTX - Cape Coral, Florida
With Kristin already working there, it was only a matter of time before I jumped over. I wanted to be with my wife. Eventually, a position opened up and it also got me off weekends.
When I gave my two week notice at Waterman Broadcasting, they asked me to leave the building that day. I guess they were worried I'd give secrets to the enemy. It kind of made me feel like a criminal. What really sucked is that I ended up leaving behind my raw tape of an interview with Regis Philbin. (It took me a while to get past that.)
Fox 4 was where I learned to shoot and edit. There were lots of talented folks who gave me tips and hints, but who also let me run wild. Of particular influence was the great Mark Current, a great editor and a fellow lover of 70's music. Mark was the first guy who made me feel like I could actually do this business. It's been ages since I've heard from Mark - I'd love to track him down.
I've written before about the great times I had in SW Florida. It was one of those times when the stars align and everything works out perfect.
KXJB - Fargo, North Dakota
However, we missed family. Kristin wanted to get closer to home. We discovered a posting on-line and I sent a tape to Fargo, North Dakota. Both Kristin and I got jobs.
In 2001 we moved to Fargo's sister city of Moorhead, Minnesota. I got a job as the chief of photography at CBS 4.
It was like entering a time wrap. The facilities were old, the gear suspect, and the stories slow and featurey - dull compared the fast paced doom and disaster of SWFL. It took a while to get used to. I wasn't experienced enough to know what to do with the limited equipmemt. There was no frame-field setting that made my feature stories look like film. There was no digital format to smoothly slow mo. No mixing board to screw with the sound.
It was like learning all over again.
But I learned to work with what I had. And, after a while, I fell in love with the people the same way I had in Florida.
There were so many different cats in Fargo.
Bruce Asbury - the veteran, hippy dippy noon weather guy with the outrageous sense of humor. Bruce would often whip off his toupee like Rip Taylor. He even did it from time to time in his stories. His regular feature - a travelogue piece called "Trip on A Tankful", was about different people and places in The Red River Valley area.
During the long car rides covering these stories, Bruce and I yakked for hours about baseball and historical events. Bruce was older than I was - I often joked that he was so old he remembered walking out of the Primordial Mist - so he had a larger specturm of reference. I loved hearing about Frank Sinatra and Hank Greenberg and where he was Kennedy was shot. (Or was that when Lincoln was shot?)
Bruce reminded me of a less effeminate Paul Lynnde. He had catch-phrases like "Oh Man" and "Unbelievable".
Norm Bell - former football player and fellow photographer. A very nice man and the only African-American man I know who likes Steely Dan and Jellyfish. (This is because I don't know many African Americans.) He was very kind to my kids and he had a great sense of humor. He was often threatened with being on the receiving end of my hugs!
Wade Iverson - Wade is one of those guys that you swear you've met hundreds of time before. A sweet fellow who was always there was a cigarrette and a joke. Wade and I would get going doing different voices: most popular was one based a street-light repair man we saw often working in the nearby Target parking lot. We never named the Latin-voiced character who constantly bitched at his co-worker "Carlos".
Seth Oeltjebruns - Seth was a good kid with a great sense of humor. He really got into shooting and did a nice job. He too was great with my kids and a good friend.
There were so many good people in Fargo TV. But unfortunately, the marketplace doesn't always dicate things are going to stay good. In 2003, KXJB was taken into an LMA with the local NBC station. When the stations merged, I was going to lose my Chief's title to guy with a wealth of talent and a twenty years experience. (However, I likely wouldn't have lost my job as we were so woefully underpaid at KXJB that I probably was looking at a raise to be just a staff photog at the new company.)
However, Adam had been just born, and Kristin wasn't working. Soon enough, we'd be paying a fortunate in day care if Kristin ever wanted to work. So I decided to feel out the job market around the country. (Besides my teenage ego was rubbed the wrong way with the prospect of being demoted.)
I managed to stumble upon a job oppurtunity in Greensboro, North Carolina where I could basically double my income while working Monday to Friday 9-6! The cost of lving was cheap, the equipment was great, I'd have my own vehicle - albeit a Ford conversion Live truck with a micrwave dish on top - and I got to work with my single favorite human being in the news business ever.
But that's part two!
Ten albums I admit I bought ...
... and my rational attempts to explain why!!
Many times, I have reached into the barrell that is rock'n'roll, and pulled out a royal turd. These are ten of the most turdish.
-----------------------------------------------------------
10. Let's Get It Started - MC Hammer
Everybody bought Hammer Don't Hurt 'em: the summer of 1990, you couldn't go ten minutes worth out hearing "U Can't Touch This.".
It took a true dork to go searching for Hammer's back catalog. Yes, this is MC Hammer's debut album, purchased mid-stream in my rap phase that began with the Beastise Boys Paul's Boutique album and ended some time after finally wearing out House of Pain's "Jump Around".
I remember nothing about Let's Get It Started - only that I sold it to a used record shop in 1993.
I'm not sure how it lasted 3 years.
-----------------------------------------------------------
9. Gonna Make You Sweat - C & C Music Factory
I signed up for the Columbia Tape & Record club in 1991. Admid Bat out of Hell and No More Tears, I ordered this dance floor favorite, purchased so that I could match Jason Baker move for move on "Things that Make You Go Hmmm ..."
Yes, I rap danced. (Basically the "Running Man".) For those who went to Watts On Main in Moose Jaw in 1991, I could be seen on the dance floor with Baker and Toby Torkelson (his real name) competitively "danicng". (Along with whatever girl I could desperately enough convience to witness said debacle.)
I think this is why I didn't date much for two years.
In order to keep up on my "moves", I practised while working weekends at the YWCA. Hiding down in the basement, underneath the swimming pool, I developed my foot work to C.C. Peniston's "Finally".
-----------------------------------------------------------
8. Don't Be Cruel - Bobby Brown
This was no accident. Grade 11, I purchased this tape a second time weeks after breaking the first one in my questionable ghettoblaster.
Ironically, the first tape lasted about as long the girlfriend it was bought to impress.
After Dana Roney broke up with me, I got drunk for the first time. (Two hours later, I got sick from being drunk for the first time.)
Bobby Brown's ranting rap during the title track somewhat encapsulated my female frustrations: Hey yo' Kimmy - what's up with this attitude? I thought I was bein' real good to you. I treat you sweet, take you out at night- but you never say thanks girl, that ain't right! I bought you diamonds, even gave you pearls. I took you for a cruise all around the world. I treat you high post, but you play me close. If I want to drink up, you won't even toast!!
I guess I wanted to drink up ... and Dana Roney wouldn't even toast! (After "drinking up", "cleaning up" the reminents of the microwave pizza I had eaten was a whole 'nother story.)
-----------------------------------------------------------
7. The Dune Soundtrack - Toto
Sometimes ... you're still a kid. This was one of my first tapes, bought around the time I had Girls With Guns by Tommy Shaw and the full Duran Duran discography.
I thought Dune would be the next Star Wars. I remember acting out the Sting/Kyle MacLachlan knife-fight scene in my bedroom. "I will bend like a reed in the wind.".
Looking back now, I'm shocked at just frickin' creepy the movie was.
Particularily the fat, gay, boil-ridden Baron Harkonnen. The soundtrack's only highlight included the Baron's freaky dialogue: "The Duke ... will die before these eyes. And they'll know ... they'll know ..that it is I, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who encompasses his doom! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!".
-----------------------------------------------------------
6. *Music for the People - Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch
"Vibrations good like Sunkist ... made wanna know who done this?!"
Nuff said.
-----------------------------------------------------------
5. Ceral Killer - Green Jelly
I had no excuse. I was an adult.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNYi6W3v0io
-----------------------------------------------------------
4. Pickin' on Nashville - The Kentucky Headhunters
Country? I have no bloody clue why I chose this particular album. The forsenic musicologist in me theorizes I must have thought they sounded like .38 Special. Or maybe it had something to do with a purchase at the time of the Allman Brothers greatest hits.
Oh yeah, and because I had recently bought my own pair of cowboy boots! I think a picked a pair that made me look like a hooker.
-----------------------------------------------------------
3. Anti-Christ Superstar - Marilyn Mason
"The Beautiful People" was catchy. Not catchy in a "Jessie's Girl" kind of way. More like a heavy metal Gary Glitter playing with the Vienna Boys Choir at the Nuremberg Rally. (Gary Glitter, the phrase "playing with", and the Vienna Boys Choir all together in one sentence?)
Over ten years later, I swear I hear the melody of George Thoroghgood's "One Burboun, One Scotch and One Beer" buried somewhere in the mix!
-----------------------------------------------------------
2. No More Games (The Remix Album) - New Kids on the Block
There's a phrase - I don't think it's biblical - that basically says Be careful of laying down with swine, because you don't know you'll pick up.
Not that I'm suggesting that she was pig-like in any way, but when I methaphorically (not sexually) laid down with Robin Kirkness, my Grade 12 & post-high school girlfriend - I picked up something far nastier than anything you could imagine: I started to tolerate the New Kids on the Block.
Secretly, I purchased the controversial No More Games after watching a concert film Robyn had. I kept it hidden in my tape collection like it was a stack of expesnive and shameful German pornography.
The remix versions of their hits added something I've never heard before, and their step-by-step program to love and courtship was particularily inspiring.
Step one: We can have lots of fun.
Step two: There so much we can do.
Step three: It's just you and me
Step four: I can give you more.
Step five: Don't you know the time has arrived.
-----------------------------------------------------------
1. C.M.B - Color Me Badd
Many times, I have reached into the barrell that is rock'n'roll, and pulled out a royal turd. These are ten of the most turdish.
-----------------------------------------------------------
10. Let's Get It Started - MC Hammer
Everybody bought Hammer Don't Hurt 'em: the summer of 1990, you couldn't go ten minutes worth out hearing "U Can't Touch This.".
It took a true dork to go searching for Hammer's back catalog. Yes, this is MC Hammer's debut album, purchased mid-stream in my rap phase that began with the Beastise Boys Paul's Boutique album and ended some time after finally wearing out House of Pain's "Jump Around".
I remember nothing about Let's Get It Started - only that I sold it to a used record shop in 1993.
I'm not sure how it lasted 3 years.
-----------------------------------------------------------
9. Gonna Make You Sweat - C & C Music Factory
I signed up for the Columbia Tape & Record club in 1991. Admid Bat out of Hell and No More Tears, I ordered this dance floor favorite, purchased so that I could match Jason Baker move for move on "Things that Make You Go Hmmm ..."
Yes, I rap danced. (Basically the "Running Man".) For those who went to Watts On Main in Moose Jaw in 1991, I could be seen on the dance floor with Baker and Toby Torkelson (his real name) competitively "danicng". (Along with whatever girl I could desperately enough convience to witness said debacle.)
I think this is why I didn't date much for two years.
In order to keep up on my "moves", I practised while working weekends at the YWCA. Hiding down in the basement, underneath the swimming pool, I developed my foot work to C.C. Peniston's "Finally".
-----------------------------------------------------------
8. Don't Be Cruel - Bobby Brown
This was no accident. Grade 11, I purchased this tape a second time weeks after breaking the first one in my questionable ghettoblaster.
Ironically, the first tape lasted about as long the girlfriend it was bought to impress.
After Dana Roney broke up with me, I got drunk for the first time. (Two hours later, I got sick from being drunk for the first time.)
Bobby Brown's ranting rap during the title track somewhat encapsulated my female frustrations: Hey yo' Kimmy - what's up with this attitude? I thought I was bein' real good to you. I treat you sweet, take you out at night- but you never say thanks girl, that ain't right! I bought you diamonds, even gave you pearls. I took you for a cruise all around the world. I treat you high post, but you play me close. If I want to drink up, you won't even toast!!
I guess I wanted to drink up ... and Dana Roney wouldn't even toast! (After "drinking up", "cleaning up" the reminents of the microwave pizza I had eaten was a whole 'nother story.)
-----------------------------------------------------------
7. The Dune Soundtrack - Toto
Sometimes ... you're still a kid. This was one of my first tapes, bought around the time I had Girls With Guns by Tommy Shaw and the full Duran Duran discography.
I thought Dune would be the next Star Wars. I remember acting out the Sting/Kyle MacLachlan knife-fight scene in my bedroom. "I will bend like a reed in the wind.".
Looking back now, I'm shocked at just frickin' creepy the movie was.
Particularily the fat, gay, boil-ridden Baron Harkonnen. The soundtrack's only highlight included the Baron's freaky dialogue: "The Duke ... will die before these eyes. And they'll know ... they'll know ..that it is I, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who encompasses his doom! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!".
-----------------------------------------------------------
6. *Music for the People - Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch
"Vibrations good like Sunkist ... made wanna know who done this?!"
Nuff said.
-----------------------------------------------------------
5. Ceral Killer - Green Jelly
I had no excuse. I was an adult.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNYi6W3v0io
-----------------------------------------------------------
4. Pickin' on Nashville - The Kentucky Headhunters
Country? I have no bloody clue why I chose this particular album. The forsenic musicologist in me theorizes I must have thought they sounded like .38 Special. Or maybe it had something to do with a purchase at the time of the Allman Brothers greatest hits.
Oh yeah, and because I had recently bought my own pair of cowboy boots! I think a picked a pair that made me look like a hooker.
-----------------------------------------------------------
3. Anti-Christ Superstar - Marilyn Mason
"The Beautiful People" was catchy. Not catchy in a "Jessie's Girl" kind of way. More like a heavy metal Gary Glitter playing with the Vienna Boys Choir at the Nuremberg Rally. (Gary Glitter, the phrase "playing with", and the Vienna Boys Choir all together in one sentence?)
Over ten years later, I swear I hear the melody of George Thoroghgood's "One Burboun, One Scotch and One Beer" buried somewhere in the mix!
-----------------------------------------------------------
2. No More Games (The Remix Album) - New Kids on the Block
There's a phrase - I don't think it's biblical - that basically says Be careful of laying down with swine, because you don't know you'll pick up.
Not that I'm suggesting that she was pig-like in any way, but when I methaphorically (not sexually) laid down with Robin Kirkness, my Grade 12 & post-high school girlfriend - I picked up something far nastier than anything you could imagine: I started to tolerate the New Kids on the Block.
Secretly, I purchased the controversial No More Games after watching a concert film Robyn had. I kept it hidden in my tape collection like it was a stack of expesnive and shameful German pornography.
The remix versions of their hits added something I've never heard before, and their step-by-step program to love and courtship was particularily inspiring.
Step one: We can have lots of fun.
Step two: There so much we can do.
Step three: It's just you and me
Step four: I can give you more.
Step five: Don't you know the time has arrived.
-----------------------------------------------------------
1. C.M.B - Color Me Badd
"All 4 Love" was gay but catchy. "I Wanna Sex You Up" was just plain gay. So how was I got dead with this tape? Was I gay*?
(*Asterisk alert - my defintion of the word "gay" has nothing to do with sexual orientation. "Gay" to be means "lame". If you are homosexual, I will refer to you as a homosexual. However, if you are lame - you are gay!)
No, I bought this "gay" music to fit in with the guys. Not that they were homosexual guys. At least, I don't think they were homosexual. Not that I would have cared.
These guys were in my Business Admin classes. Jockular guys who considered music like Color Me Badd as "chick-getting-music". Kevin Calladine, Jason Watson, Jason Schiedner and a fellow who I can only know remember as "Goots" - were my friends for the first year and a half of business adminstration classes at SIAST Palliser campus in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
"Chick-getting" music was important - you went to the bars and you tried to get the girls to dance with you on the fast songs .
My skinny ass failed miserably.
I remember reaching my limit about the time that Nirvana started to hit its' peak. The rest of the guys thought Nirvana was "gay": literally homosexual music made by homosexual men made for other homsexual men. They wondered how you could get chicks with all that howling and ugly guitars. You couldn't dance to this, could you? That's what music was for!
I took a look at the cassettes on Kevin's wall - filled with artists like Dino, Expose, Alanis (three years before Jagged Little Pill), Snap, Paula Abdul and Technotronic - and decided we had different opnions on the sexual orientation of our music collections.
It was then that I decided I was only going to be happy if I was myself. No more rap dancing. No more Color Me Badd or Mr. Lee's "Get Busy". No more trying to be the failed ladies man that I was. Back came the Cheap Trick and the Kiss and the Alice Cooper and the comedy.
And soon enough, no more business administration.
I always look back on this time period as my mid-life mid-life crisis. The music I chose was just like the fifty year old man getting a hair piece and a fancy sports car. I was no dancer and certainly no stud.
I laugh when I hear these songs again. (I love YouTube!) They remind me of me back then - plastic, fake, and ridiculous - and funny as hell!
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