Dayton937

Things to do in Dayton | Restaurants, Theatre, Music and More

J.T. Ryder

Progress of the Past – The Magic of the Ohio Renaissance Festival

By Leave a Comment

The Magic of the Ohio Renaissance Festival

I parked my car on a rolling hill and then descended into the year 1572. A journey that far back into the village of Willy-Nilly-on-the-Wash was neither as long nor as tiresome as I had expected. The hoots and hollers of youngsters banging about with wooden swords echoed and withdrew into the expectant day. The village was awakening and kitchen wenches scuttled and rushed, unintentionally dusting the ground with their long, gathered skirts as they readied for the day. A chandler called out for me to inspect his fine selection of candles and sundries. Another merchant hailed me to his perfumery, extolling the virtues of his soaps and scents, cataloging the ingredients and their attributes.

I roamed the village from gate to gallows. The festive atmosphere of this crossroads fair was an almost equalizing element for patrons and peasants alike. This was an especially eventful day as Queen Elizabeth was making a tour through the area, called a Progress. The Progress served three important functions. The Queen could walk among her constituents, exerting her authority among the nobles and peasants. It also saved the royal house an enormous amount because the villages and nobility paid all of the costs for the Queen’s extended visits. The third, less talked about reason was that it took the Queen away from the odorous conditions present in London during high summer.

The sound of lutes, flutes, gitterns and guitars resonated and vied for attention. Vendors called out, cajoling and extolling the passers by with the singular quality of their wares. An exotic, tattooed woman worked her muscles into a sinuous sweat turning the round-a-bout for some wide-eyed waifs. All around, there was movement, colour, and curiosity, but I was scheduled to meet up with some acquaintances from the past.

Sir Walter Raleigh was the first to respond to my invitation for an impromptu interview. He strode through the trail of dust created by the grooms leading a string of horses out to graze. As he parted the sunlit haze, I was struck by the shimmering similarities of his entrance to that of a man crossing through the mists of time. His embroidered doublet and brilliant breeches revealed a man of great social stature as the gold buttons of his vest caught the sun, throwing rich reflections onto the dirty faces of the coarsely dressed urchins as they ran past. We took a seat on the rough-hewn bench in front of the Rose and Crown and a bit of irony became evident; the man that brought tobacco back to England was a non-smoker.

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and Sir Francis Drake made their arrival a short time later, with bluster and a torrent of familiar, good-natured sniping. They went on for a time, reflecting on past conquests and jibing the others about their shortcomings. Sir Francis reminded Sir Walter that on one of his expeditions, he had to dump his ballast overboard and replace it with silver. Raleigh shot back that at least he hadn’t died of dysentery. The Earl of Leicester cheerfully chimed in that dysentery was such an awful way to go, but not nearly so much as having your head and body part ways under the executioner’s axe, such as Raleigh had. Drake came to Raleigh’s aid pointing out that at least they didn’t utilize the forces of gravity and a sturdy stairwell as a means to divorce their wife. The Earl became somewhat indignant and twirled the waxed ends of his curled mustache, stating that nothing had ever been proven in that particular case.

I had hoped to include Lettice Knolleys in on the conversation, but as she approached our group, the Queen’s retinue, replete with guards, the Privy Chamber, and a number of unofficial court patrons, suddenly appeared. I found it quite odd that Sir Walter Raleigh chanced a shy smile and a hidden wave to Bess Throckmorton, one of Elizabeth’s colloquial court attendants. The mild flirtations were bizarre because, in 15 and 72, Raleigh and Bess were barely in their early adulthood. It was not until far later that they would secretly marry, infuriating the Queen. In 1618, political intrigues between Spain and England conspired to lead Raleigh to the executioner. Bess, being the devoted wife, stored Raleigh’s head in a leather satchel for twenty-nine years until death finally claimed her.

My musings were quickly interrupted by the Queen’s shrill upbraiding of Lettice due to one of Lettice’s entourage imprudently clothing herself in the Queen’s colours. You could see Elizabeth’s thinly masked hatred for Lettice beaming through, entwined with the puerile satisfaction of being able to publicly humiliate her. Lettice bore the abuse, humbly bowing her acquiescence to Elizabeth. After Elizabeth’s guards parted a path for the Queen, Lettice and her maiden’s swept themselves away in a blush of indignation.

The Queen’s tirade put somewhat of a damper on the conversation and everyone soon parted ways; they to the past they chose to repeat, and I to the present that I am compelled to create. The one thing that I am left with, over and above the sights, sounds and experiences, are the people who comprise the crossroads festival. The amount of skill and research and devotion that they have endured to be able to take us all on this ubiquitous journey into the past is almost unfathomable and a debt not easily repaid. To them, huzzah!

Sir Francis Drake is played by Charley Brough, Sir Walter Raleigh is played by Dave Smith, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester  is played by Micheal Dean Conley, Lettice Knolley is played by Ame Ahner.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GXnwUKJabo’]

Hilariously Hyper Hahn

By Leave a Comment

Greg Hahn On The Marines, One Eyed Women and The Bob & Tom Show

            Having heard Greg Hahn’s high-velocity rants on the radio and seen his blisteringly bombastic stage performances on video, I fully expected to find that, off stage, he was a quiet, laid back kind of guy. I was wrong. From the moment he answered the phone for our first interview, it was clear that he was just as manic and off stage as he was on. In all sincerity, I had to slow down the recorder to transcribe our interview as it was somewhat akin to listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks on a meth jag. I conversation meandered around, jumping from topic to topic, seemingly at random. I knew that it was going to be an interesting interview when I had mentioned that it took a special type of person to get up in front of an audience, under the glare of the spotlights. I told him that I was really only comfortable dealing with the world from the safety and comfort of my computer.

“Right…it’s a special thing…I mean, you write and I can’t even think about sitting still for that long. It would bore me instantly and I wouldn’t be able to come up with anything…hang on…I gotta plug my phone in…”

…and thus began the interview. One of several conversations that I have pieced together over the years, to give a clearer insight into Greg Hahn’s career and his creations. During our first conversation, I asked Greg if he had always been this way.

“Yeah! I’ve always been ridiculous, you know?  Always, ’cause that’s the fun part! Like when you’re in school…the more serious the situation is, the more you want to be a riot. Like in a quiet classroom, you know, or like a funeral or say like a church…I won’t go so far as to say a funeral …but like church. Wherever you’re supposed to be really quiet is like where I wanted to go completely bananas, you know.” Hahn quickly added, somewhat paradoxically, “But then I get put on the spot, like ‘Hey! It’s the funny guy!’ so, like you go to a party and that’s where you’re supposed to be completely over the top and that’s where I would clam up. It’s a weird combination of things.”

Having seen him on stage and spoken with him in person, it was somewhat difficult for me to imagine that he could ever be involved in such a regimented organization such as the Marines. I asked him if his apparent ADHD and penchant for spastic humor ever got him in trouble with the Corps.

“Uh, I don’t know…it was quite ridiculous in the Marine Corps. You know, I had my people shooting their weapons all over the place. I used to blow off stuff at my apartment complex that caused the S.W.A.T. team to come over. You know, that was like the closest I ever came to being in trouble…like I’d bring flash-bangs or artillery simulators home and blow them off. Other than that, things have been pretty smooth.”

Knowing that Hahn had achieved the rank of Captain, I was curious as to whether his antics ever got him bucked down in rank or caused him any other problems in the military.

“No, no. Officers…normally it’s hard to get yourself knocked down a rank. Those guys that are just working their way up, like from like Sergeant to Corpsoral (E-4) or something like that, but once your so high, it’s hard to get knocked down.” Hahn ended that thought by saying, “Either you rank or you get kicked out right away.”

With his military background, I was sure that Hahn had to have taken part in the many USO or other military comedy tours.

            “I didn’t do Iraq, but I went to Bosnia and Kosovo…all that stuff. That was a good time. The military stuff kills there…I try to expand on the military stuff and it does real well. But you know, my military career was a long time ago. There are other guys that have had real careers in the military. I was just like four years in…three active duty and one in the reserves. A lot of these guys have been in the military for like ten or twenty years…a whole big career. I touch on it in the act, but it’s not the whole act.” Hahn then jumped subject, detailing some of his pre-Marine life. “I went to college. I had a job. I was a moron in college, so I can like totally relate to people whose max education is high school and they go to college and they drink and I am totally in the same boat with those people.”

During another phone call, almost exactly a year later, I brought up the topic of the military once again as my eldest son had joined the Marines and was set to leave in a short time for boot camp.

“Good for him! Well, he’ll get in the Marine Corps and, I mean, at boot camp, it’ll be…the first week…what a hassle! No sleep! Oh my god! Everything is uncomfortable. He will have…it’s that old cliché, ‘You can’t take that away from him,’ you know?” Actually sounding nostalgic for a moment, Hahn went on to say that, “He’ll have the memory of things he did and what happened and things he saw for his whole life. It’s a good memory. It’s fun. Tell him he’ll tell every girlfriend he ever dates from here on out his Marine Corps experience, what he did in boot camp and what happened and what kid tried to drink his own piss and the rifle range…no, he’s got all kinds of great memories coming.”

I wondered whether much of Hahn’s stage act was comprised of actual experiences that, within the wide open confines of Greg’s imagination, he blew up to totally preposterous proportions, creating a comic character that everyone seems to find universally hilarious. Was it a conscious decision to create a rapid fire monologue out of exaggerated portions of his own life?

“Yeah, stuff I’ve experienced, stuff I’ve done, you know what I mean? I always say, like my whole point is ‘get to the funny part quick’. Like, me as an audience member, like whenever I watched comedy, I would get bored like instantaneously. I don’t like a long set up, myself so my jokes are almost like, a couple of words or a funny noise or a face or whatever. Like, whatever is funny I try to bring it in immediately.” Hahn reflects that, “So, since I started out, I’ve always…it takes a while, it takes a number of years to get people to understand what the hell you’re doing. Because I used to come out on stage and , you know, fall down or flop around and throw prunes and, you know, throw stuff around, and people didn’t know what the hell was going on.”

With the unending physical comedy that his body endures during every performance, I thought that he must have had some accidents and injuries over the course of years.

“No…” he said, quickly adding that, “I have flown onto a full table of beer, though. The table collapsed when I flew off stage and landed on a table…I didn’t get hurt, so it was alright. It was kind of funny, actually…a good way to close a show. ‘Hey, hey! My finale’!’”

As a regular guest not only on The Bob and Tom Show, but also on The Bob and Tom Comedy All-Stars Tours, Greg attributes much of his success to Tom Griswold and Bob Kevoian, the creators and hosts of the show.

            “Well, I think The Bob and Tom Show, for me, has made my career. It has totally given it a kick in the you-know-what. It’s really interesting because I was playing in a club in Indianapolis called One Liners, and they were like, ‘Hey, you’re going to do The Bob and Tom Show tomorrow!’ I had heard that Bob and Tom was big, but I’d done a lot of radio and you don’t get overly excited, like, it’s not a career changer. You know, after a while, you just kind of take one day at a time.” Hahn remembers the immediate results that the show had on his career, “So, you do The Bob and Tom Show once and the next thing you know, you show up at a place you’ve never been before, like Wichita, Kansas, and the place is packed! You go rolling up in the parking lot and there’s nowhere to park. That’s when I first learned the power of Bob and Tom, playing Wichita…that place was slammed and I’m like, ‘Holy Smokes!’ and it just got better and better. It’s really something!”

The Bob and Tom Comedy All Star Tour have really become an entity unto themselves, traversing the country, bringing the nation’s top comedians in one headliner laden show.

“Yeah, The Bob and Tom Tour is like a total party. You know, I can just come out and go completely nuts. I don’t have to pace myself or anything…just total nuts, you know? That’s the thing…I come out, explode, then go have a diet Coke backstage. It is truly the world of Jäger-bombs and body shots.” Hahn went on to explain the dynamics of the tours by reiterating that, “It’s just a Bob and Tom party, because you’ve got all these headliners who normally don’t see each other on the club circuit, because we all headline. Our egos are too big. We wouldn’t dare want to open for each other, you know what I mean? But, on The Bob and Tom Tour, it’s all headliners, so…man! The green room is a riot! It is fun, it is fun. You are truly seeing comedians that are having a fun time where, in a club, it might be minor torture because you could have to sit through the opening act and the middle act. Honestly, I’ve never had so much fun doing comedy in all my life!”

I always wondered if the constantly changing line ups would throw some of the comedians off of their groove.

“Not really. I mean, it’s different personnel. You’ve got someone new to goof off with in the green room. But, as far as the show itself, I don’t really sit out there and watch it. We sit in the green room totally goofing off talking about, again, because it’s a meeting of people who don’t normally see each other, so we can talk about challenges on the road, which comedy club has the most horrific condo, which guy tried to rip us off the most and compare notes.” Hanh explains. “Then, when they’re like, ‘Hey! You’re up next!’ I just go out there, sprinting onto the stage, freak out, then race back to the green room. So, I don’t know what’s going on out there. I just know that I go out there and give the audience their money’s worth and make sure that they’re happy that they showed up.”

Along with being one of the most manic and funny men on the comedy circuit, Hahn also has some other special talents. The first of which is his exceptional drumming skills. Had he originally wanted a career in music, perhaps hooking up with a band in high school or college?

“No, man…but I always had a drum set with me, even through college, like in my college dorm, because nothing wraps up a big party night when you’re hitting all the frats then a 3am dorm drum solo. I always had a drum kit and I took lessons in like fourth and fifth grade, and that was it. I did actually play in the jazz band in high school, but they’d only let me play like one song.” Contemplating the possibilites, Hahn said, “Now if I put together a big show, I would put together a band for sure. But the trouble is, I ruin every single song with a gigantic drum solo, so…”

Another of his non-comedic attributes is his wicked reputation as a Ping-Pong master. I was curious if this was something that he developed a skill for while he was in the military, much like Forrest Gump.

“No, I played as a kid. As a kid, I lived across the street from the guy that was like one of the top players in Florida and he taught me how to play. And it’s not like I’m a tournament player, but any punk that’s in the audience or like when I was in college…I mean, any street player I can beat, or normally I can beat. I’m sure that there’s some fat guy wearing a sweat band that’s got a Ping-Pong table in his garage and belongs to the Ping-Pong Club that could be trouble and could probably do me in, but I don’t run into that. I’m a comedian, so I think I’m unbeatable!” Then the gloves come off when Hahn starts trash talking. “That’s like Daniel Tosh and these other punks that think they’re good, and they show up and I have to talk smack like ‘Are you right handed? Are you sure you’re not playing with the weak hand?’”

We ended one of our conversations with what has to be one of the weirder road stories that I have heard. Not the weirdest…but definitely outside the norm.

“When I first started out, I used to throw stuff out into the audience and then there was this lady one night, who kept opening this umbrella in the front row while I’m doing the show, right?”

I suggested that perhaps the woman was confused and thought she was at a Gallagher show.

“No, I wasn’t even throwing anything. I guess she just thought it was funny. She was drunk and thought it was funny to, out of nowhere, just open her umbrella up in the front row. So all I’d see was this big umbrella open up. I happened to have had a large glass of ice water up on stage, and I thought, ‘Man, that would be great that the next time she opens that umbrella, I’ll spin around and grab this huge glass of ice water and chuck it against that umbrella. Oh it’ll be a riot! It’ll be a riot!!’ So I’m doing my show and BOOM, the umbrella opens up and I spin around and grab the ice water and fling it at her and as I’m throwing it, she closes the umbrella, the ice flies over her head and nails the woman behind her.” The story goes from bad to bizarre as Hahn recounts that, “All I could hear was the woman behind her scream, ‘My eye!’…and it’s not just her eye….it’s her good eye. She’s got a real eye and a glass eye and I nailed her in the real eye. Like, I mean, a nightmare was facing me that I couldn’t possibly imagine. So anyway, the show was over and I had to sit with her and buy her drinks…well, her and the people she was with….and luckily the eye cleared up and she was alright and the club invited me back. That was a rough one, man. It’s like one of the things you learn when you’re starting out. It’s like, ‘O.K. That’s it for chucking things into the crowd.’No, I wasn’t even throwing anything. I guess she just thought it was funny. She was drunk and thought it was funny to, out of nowhere, just open her umbrella up in the front row. So all I’d see was this big umbrella open up. I happened to have had a large glass of ice water up on stage, and I thought, ‘Man, that would be great that the next time she opens that umbrella, I’ll spin around and grab this huge glass of ice water and chuck it against that umbrella. Oh it’ll be a riot! It’ll be a riot!!’ So I’m doing my show and BOOM, the umbrella opens up and I spin around and grab the ice water and fling it at her and as I’m throwing it, she closes the umbrella, the ice flies over her head and nails the woman behind her. All I could hear was the woman behind her scream, ‘My eye!’…and it’s not just her eye….it’s her good eye. She’s got a real eye and a glass eye and I nailed her in the real eye. Like, I mean, a nightmare was facing me that I couldn’t possibly imagine. So anyway, the show was over and I had to sit with her and buy her drinks…well, her and the people she was with….and luckily the eye cleared up and she was alright and the club invited me back. That was a rough one, man. It’s like one of the things you learn when you’re starting out. It’s like, ‘O.K. That’s it for chucking things into the crowd.’”

At the conclusion of our last conversation, Hahn extended his thanks and best wishes to my son as he left for Marine Corps boot camp.

“Well, thanks a lot for the interview and tell your son he’ll love the Corps and tell him to bring his golf clubs. That’s what they always told me; ‘Bring your golf clubs!’” Hahn paused for the briefest of moments before adding, “I don’t know what that means.”

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD0WROU9D7Q’]

Renaissance Rescinded in Santa Clara: The Orphaned Arts District Of Dayton

By Leave a Comment

“The architecture of our future is not only unfinished; the scaffolding has hardly gone up”

~George Lamming

Standing amidst the broken plate glass shards on the northeast corner of North Main St. and Santa Clara Ave., you can look across the street and see the fading promise of a once vibrant art scene reduced to a few tattered awnings stretched over abandoned storefronts. What could have possibly happened to take a profitable, progressive and thriving arts community that was flourishing in the nineties disappear, leaving us with just panorama of mostly empty buildings and memories less than decade later?

The 1900 block of N. Main St. was developed in the 1800’s with an architectural integrity that spoke of affluence. Business and residential development flourished well into the 20th century, but was marred by a sudden decline starting in the 1960’s. The seventies brought yet another sharp decline that mirrored the steady change in demographics of nearby urban neighborhoods. Property owners and businesses became increasingly absentee and the area fell into disrepair.

In the early nineties, Joe Dierkers and the partnership that comprised The Third Realty Co. acquired most of the commercial buildings that was soon to become the heart of the Santa Clara arts district. They were unsure at first as to what direction the area should take, but that issue was soon resolved when Joe attended an event where Jeff Rutledge was a guest speaker. In the course of several conversations, the two agreed that the area was a perfect site to create a center for the artistic community. They modeled their vision on the greatly successful Short North arts and retail center that sits just north of downtown Columbus. The Color Purple Decorating Service, owned by James Hankins, was already located on Santa Clara Ave. when Jeff moved Rutledge Gallery from it’s Front Street location directly onto N. Main St., becoming an anchor for the area. The renaissance of the Santa Clara area began.

Jeff Rutledge remembers the area as it was when he first moved there. “At the time there were mostly empty buildings . Nothing bright or cheerful, no identity, no direction. I could envision what this area could be, though, having lived in Oakland and  Mendocino, California. and the north side of Chicago, seeing what urban gentrification and neighborhood revivals that were started by artists, musicians, and restaurants, and risk taking entrepreneurs could achieve.”

Other artisans and small retailer soon followed and within a short time, the district boasted over forty shops, giving birth to the Santa Clara United Business Association (SCUBA).

“The formation of SCUBA was grassroots…organic, democratic, and totally voluntary in our own self interest to gain influence with the city.” Jeff Rutledge reflected.

The area quickly became an unofficial arts district and in 1993, the City of Dayton designated the Santa Clara area as a “Town Center.” This program, now defunct, opened up city resources, as had been done for the Oregon District and the Belmont Business District in the past. The resources were earmarked for marketing, promotion and research for the burgeoning art district and hopes were high that the partnership between the district and the city would flourish as it had in the Oregon District.

Steve Nutt, who was the Dayton City Planner at the time and very active in the developing scene says “the ‘Town Center’ designation was made by a staff recommendation that was approved by the city commission. The ‘Town Center’ was made by geographical location and targeted those business districts. There was never really a contract made because there was no real entity to make an agreement with. It was more of a working agreement wherein the city worked with the business district…it was an informal partnership with the city and the business district.” Steve had left the area over a year before the ‘Town Center’ project finally shut down. He works as Director Strategic Development for CityWide Development now.

The ‘Town Center designation was comprised of several components that applied to every ‘Town Center’ locale; façade grants, incentives for new businesses, such as free rent for the first month or two and promotional and marketing funds. The money was made available to the districts on a first come, first serve basis and available through an application process. One of the first initiatives that were taken was to unify the district through the installation of matching storefront awnings and a linked lighting scheme. Neon lights were to be installed along the district giving the area it’s own distinctive flair. The first attempt at this ended somewhat anti-climatically. The bid was granted to a contractor who was apparently wholly unprepared for the task. Wiring insulation was sub-standard, causing a fire on one of the buildings and just outright inoperable on others.

Parking for the newly christened arts district and ‘Town Center’ was established when Joe Dierkers offered the city two houses that his partnership owned.

“I donated two buildings and the city tore them down to provide a parking lot.” he remembers, “They (the city) were supposed to acquire the, third (house) but that never materialized.”

Joe Dierkers kept the integrity of the area in the forefront with his ability to deal with potential tenants on an individual basis. He would scale the rent for those who planned to open an arts based business, knowing that they would be unable to pay a higher lease and also that another artisan establishment would add to the overall ambience of the area. He also turned away some prospective retailers that wanted to open businesses that did not fit in with the district’s sweeping vision. This business acumen paid off when in 1996, the area was at around 93% occupancy and, by Joe’s accounts, rose to 99% by 1999.

Things started to fray around the edges when a local branch of National City Bank decided to close its branch at the corner of Ridge Ave. and N. Main St.

Joe Dierkers says that “the businesses in the area felt like having a neighborhood bank was a stabilizing influence. We went to the City Council to oppose the closure, but we weren’t even allowed to voice our concerns or make our presentation. We felt that there was a lack of commitment from National City to the inner city.”

Around 1996, the local businesses began to feel as if the support from the city was being slowly withdrawn.

“The focus of the city’s efforts went elsewhere, which is not a criticism. There were times when there could have been some support, but there almost seemed to be an abandonment.” says Joe Dierkers. “The city made an effort in the beginning. They installed the awnings, lighting, parking lots and improved the sidewalks. They started a community based policing program. I even provided an office for them to use, rent-free. We had a community-based officer who really got to know the business owners and the neighborhoods. She got rid of the panhandlers, who were one of the main problems in the area at the time. A year later, they (the city) switched from supporting it to giving it lip service. The community officers were pulled off and placed elsewhere. I took back the office that I had let them use because nobody was ever there.” In an almost despondent tone, Joe finished by stating that, “In retrospect, the support probably went away much quicker then we realized, but at the time, it seemed like a slow distancing.”

Jeff Rutledge remembers the slow retreat of support as, “…ending very quietly and with no warning and no explanations, like a thief in the night. They didn’t want to admit that they were changing directions. It was rude and very unprofessional and sneaky. They didn’t want to talk or explain it to us. That was the killing blow and we lost momentum and morale. I don’t trust the city anymore.”

Jim McCarthy, the owner of ‘Q’ located at 1966 N. Main St. reflects that, “The City had a good thing going when they were encouraging small businesses to move into the district and made funding available to assist the businesses with signage, awnings, and other amenities that made for a more attractive, walk-able business district. But then all of that funding dried up…”

There were other issues that the area was dealing with besides the slow withdrawal of city support. The residential neighborhood itself was changing radically. There were more and more abandoned properties, absentee landlords and a pervasively negative element moving in. Violent crimes and crimes against the properties became more of a day to day issue for the local businesses. Our very own paper once resided in the corner building at Santa Clara Ave. and N. Main St., but were forced to move from the area do to the increase in criminal activity.

According to the current publisher of the Dayton City Paper, Kerry Farley, “The reason we left the district was pretty simple. Three incidents of theft… an office load of computers stolen each time in less than two years. Police quite simply told us it was the work of local crack addicts. (The) insurance company simply refused to allow us to continue filing these claims as, at some point, it becomes sheer irresponsibility on our part to continue staying there.”

Jim McCarthy explains that, “…the “usual suspects” of any area that is struggling with high poverty rates crept in; including prostitution, petty crime, vandalism, and drug trafficking.”

Jim Haskins, the owner of The Color Purple sums up the overall feeling with, “What ultimately caused the complete demise within the area was the crime and the decline of the residential neighborhoods.”

Currently, the ORION Solution Project is targeting the Santa Clara, Riverdale and Wolf Creek/Old Dayton View neighborhoods. The program is being met with well earned praise and support from the local communities. The ORION Solution has allocated more police officers to identified problem areas and initiated walking patrols for the officers. They are boarding and securing the abandoned properties and have developed youth mentoring and skill building programs. In deference to all that is being done by this project, one has to ask why the community based policing program initiated and effectively proven in the early days of the Santa Clara Arts District was abandoned. From all accounts, it was a program that worked and had the endorsement of the local businesses and neighbors.

There are other programs that various city offices and development groups are working on in adjacent neighborhoods. There was a recent survey and identification of historical properties in the Five Oaks area. There is the Great Miami Blvd. Connector which is proposed to create a business corridor along the lower section of N. Main St. Dayton Public Schools plans to invest 20M in a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school at the site of the old Julienne High school, which has just been recently added to the National Historical Register. While all of these projects and plans are fantastic news, the spillover effect may not even be felt in the Santa Clara area.

Joe Dierkers related this story to me, which seems to sum up the propensity for the city to take up a project, only to abandon it in midstream in favor of a new project. There was a store owned by Mel Smith located on W. Fairview Ave. Business had been slow for Mel lately and Joe offered him a large storefront in the Santa Clara area. Mel’s Fine Furniture and Interior Design’s business picked up substantially. Shortly thereafter, the city, in an effort to bolster a shopping center development on N. Gettysburg, offered Mel certain incentives to move his established business there.

“They (the city) paid for the move and made him some type of deal concerning the rent, but he was unable to maintain his business in (that market) and soon went out of business. Now it seemed that the city was not just ignoring us, but working aggressively against us.”

With the recent coverage of Dayton being ranked 84th in America as a desirable place to live in the latest edition of Cities Ranked & Rated, there are a few questions that enter my mind. With the most outstanding ratings being in the “arts & culture” area, I wonder if the city is planning to capitalize on this fact. They could start an arts district, replete with galleries, restaurants, and unique boutiques. I know just the place.

 

Shock Treatment

By Leave a Comment

Wiley’s Welcomes America’s Greatest Storyteller

I prepared for my upcoming interview with comedic storyteller Ron Shock in the same manner that I approached all of my subjects. I researched reviews of his performances from across the country. I listened to all of the stage material of his that I could find. I read all of  the somewhat vitriolic rants on his web blog. I collated and compressed all of my thoughts down into a series of poignant, thought provoking questions, took a deep breath and dialed his telephone number. As soon as I heard his raspy, whiskey soaked voice answer the phone and he launched unceremoniously into a review of his day, I did what any professional interviewer would do; I threw my notes right the fuck out. I realized instantly that there was absolutely no way in hell I was going to be able to force this interview to follow any semblance of order.

Ron immediately put me at ease with his laid back, conversational tone; the hallmark of a true storyteller. He makes you feel as if you were sitting on the back porch, listening to stories being spun by your favorite grandfather. Not the one who used to whack you with his cane and tell you that you’d never amount to anything, just like your father. No, not him. The other one; the nice one. Ron Shock would reminded you of that grandfather, spinning stories about his life, making them all seem so funny and fanciful. Well, maybe “grandfather” is not the right depiction to use. Maybe a grandfather after he’s smoked quite a bit of “medicinal marijuana” for his “glaucoma.” A cross between Garrison Keillor and Ken Kesey, really.

Our hour-long conversation ranged hither and yon, touching on topic after topic, such as politics, poker, religion and bowel movements, shifting between these subjects seamlessly. Now I realized why the man, one of the Original Texas Outlaws who sprang from the same scene as Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks and Brett Butler, was known as The Greatest American Storyteller.

J.T.: You’re performing at Wiley’s Comedy Club on June 21st through the 24th. You wrote to me saying that you really liked playing that club. Is it the area’s ambiance? The type of crowds?

Shock: You know what it is? The owner is a comic. The previous owner, Wiley himself, while not a comic, loved comedy and there is that love of comedy and Wiley’s isn’t like other clubs because they’re (the other clubs) are in it for the money. Wiley’s is actually in it for the comedy.

J.T.: Well, I’ll ask the most obvious question that you’ve probably been asked a billion times, ‘how did you get into comedy?’

Shock: I had a little consulting firm at the time, but it pretty much ran itself. The service I provided was done by computer and it was easy for me to have time off. I went to college. I’d take six hours a week out of my not-so-busy-fucking-schedule. Just to take courses that interested me and I didn’t know anything about the theater, so I took ‘Introduction to Theater.’ Well, Hayden Rorke, who played Col. Bellows on ‘I Dream of Jeannie’, was friend of my professor. He comes on a day when we had to do a skit that we had written ourselves. I performed my skit and afterwards, he said ‘That was pretty funny! Let’s go have lunch.’  We had lunch and he asked me what I was doing in college at my age. I told him that I had been a success in business and had made money and now I was bored beyond belief. He told me ‘You ought to do stand up comedy.’ The following Tuesday, I went to a local comedy club and  it was like a light shone on me, like ‘This is what you’re supposed to do.’ I went on stage that Sunday, amateur night…and I bombed. Horribly. A fight breaks out between the comics and spills into the room while I’m on stage. It can’t get any worse. Monday morning, I put my business up for sale and I’ve been a stand-up comic ever since.

J.T.: How would you describe your show to the uninitiated? Is it a political or controversial type of show?

Shock: No, I don’t do political stuff much. I will go after certain controversial figures, I don’t go after groups, I name names…individuals…like Oral Roberts or Pat Robertson. I’ll take something ludicrous that they’ve said and from there go into a rant from there. My show has no point. I make people laugh. That’s what I do. There are things that I feel very deeply about in life, but I can’t make them funny, and I don’t want to preach without making it funny. My calling seems to be as a stand-up comic, not as a comedic philosopher. So, no…I don’t have a point, other than there’s a lot of funny shot out there if you can start to look at it from a funny point of view. I do a lot of long stories, I mean, I’ve led a very interesting life.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayt2YNgKpBs’]

Tonight’s Memories

By Leave a Comment

Ed McMahon’s Memories of the Tonight Show

            Whether it was after an egg fight with Dom DeLuise or standing amidst the wreckage of a skit that had gone horribly awry, Ed McMahon and Johnny Carson remained true to themselves, and to each other. One would look to the other and say, “Two grown men”, while the other would complete the second part of their inside joke by replying, “Graduates of major universities.” A little phrase that displayed the depth of a friendship that sustained and carried them through forty-six years of varying levels of fame. Along the way, an intimate unspoken admiration was firmly cemented between these two men, making them the most recognizable, admired, emulated, parodied and well beloved duos in comedic history.

            Philadelphia already recognized Ed McMahon’s rising star as early as 1952, when he had thirteen shows on the air. Having served in the Marine Corp in World War Two, Ed was once again called into military service to serve in Korea, thus interrupting his burgeoning television career.  By the time he made it back stateside, all thirteen of his shows had been canceled and he was forced to start from scratch, scheduling audition after audition from a Penn station phone booth. Fate intervened one night when he was invited to a party at Dick Clark’s apartment and, after conversing with someone named Gordon, was foisted into the role of ‘entertainer’ for the evening. After telling a few jokes, Dick Clark’s producer took notice of him and when an announcer’s position suddenly opened up for the game show Who Do You Trust?, Ed was first in line. Ed’s did not think that his interview with the shows star went well at all.  Apparently the shows star, Johnny Carson, thought otherwise.

J.T.:  Now, I read your book Here’s Johnny (Rutledge Hill Press – 2005) and the first thing I’d like to say is it was really refreshing to read a memoir that didn’t turn into some nasty, tabloid style tell all book.

McMahon: I would never do that. I would never, ever do that…at gunpoint I wouldn’t do that.

 

J.T.: Now, my only critique of the book is that the anecdotes didn’t seem to go far enough. It was like ‘…and then what happened?’…and it was off to another story. Now, is your series, Ed McMahon’s Memories of The Tonight Show, an extension of the book?

McMahon: Yes. In other words, both things in my mind are tributes to Johnny. My idea with the book was, everybody wants to hear the ‘Heeeere’s…’, you know, J.T. …I get that all the time, all over the country. ‘Will you say hello to my mom?’ ‘Well, what’s your mom’s name?’ So anyway, I’ll do a ‘Heeeere’s Mary!’ or whatever it is…

 

J.T.: So you’re like the most recorded cell phone answering machine.

McMahon: (Laughs) Yeah, that’s right! I thought the book should be, not the ‘Heeeere’s Johnny’ but ‘Here’s Johnny’. Everybody wanted to know what he’s like, you know, what’s Johnny all about. So, that was my idea. So then, with Memories of the Tonight Show, it’s just another tribute. So, it’s some of the book, but it’s more like a night club show.

 

J.T.: Is it more of a conversational theater type show or is there a multi-media aspect to it?

McMahon: Oh sure, I have clips that people have never seen. Like an Aunt Blabby skit that fell apart one night. I have things like that and I have silly things that we did, like the thing I call ‘The Tie Fight’. One night, we got involved with something, and all of a sudden, we’re trying to pull each other’s ties off, you know. Reflecting, that’s reflecting the fact that we were pals, you know. People wonder are they really friends? A lot of the couplings in our business, they were not pals. Like Laurel and Hardy were not pals. The Marx brothers feuded all the time. You know, we were buddies. If we had met in the Marine Corp, we’d have gravitated towards each other because we liked the same things and we laughed at the same things. So there was a camaraderie that’s explained and shown in a clip where it’s just so silly, like two kids kicking a can down the street. There’s this humor and the feeling that you know what the other guy is going to do. That’s pretty good if you have a coupling like that.

 

J.T.: Your relationship with Johnny was definitely unique and has never come close to being duplicated, as far as mutual respect. It seems that many these comedic teams allow their egos to destroy what they have.

McMahon: Right!

 

J.T.: With your other projects, did any of them ever come close to interfering with your relationship with Johnny?

McMahon: No. You know what I did? I was very smart. What I did was, I always went in and took everything by him. When I got that film Fun With Dick and Jane, with Jane Fonda and George Segal, that was a big moment for me. Well, before that happened, I went to him. I would go to him and run everything by and say, ‘What do you think about this? What do you think about Star Search?’ You know, other people didn’t do that and got in a lot of trouble.

 

J.T.: Now, going way back, when you were paired with Johnny on the game show Who Do You Trust? in 1957, do you think that you both would have made it as big had The Tonight Show not been available as your vehicle?

McMahon: I think so, because I was doing other shows in Philadelphia. My attitude was, I just thought that Who Do You Trust? was fine. That was a big thing to me, a network show and so forth. If it hadn’t have worked, I would have gone back to Philadelphia or I’d keep plugging in New York, and do something else, you know. I don’t think there was any question…you know, we both had talent and it was unique that we found each other. When I say in my motivational speeches, ‘I ran into a guy named Johnny Carson.’ Well, that old phrase, ‘hitch your wagon to a star’…I hooked my wagon to a star.

 

J.T.: Later on, when you would do various tour across the country, performing at state fairs and such, would you ever arrive in some backwater dump and just look at each other and say, ‘Why are we doing this?’

McMahon: (Laughs) That’s a good question! You’ve done your homework! Anyway, we always had a great spot. We’d do like the Ohio State Fair, we’d play the New York State Fair. We always geared what we were doing right to the audience. In other words if we were in a town where there was a lot of oil drilling, Johnny would be an oil rigger and I would be interviewing him. He’d be Wildcat Sam, and I’d have the clipboard, and then we’d have to joke. But we would tailor it to the locale, so that helped us, you know. Even if we hit any…we never really hit any bad spots, but if you hit a bad spot, it was so right on that the audience was with us. Let’s say your in Houston, Texas or you’re in a smaller town like Milford, Texas where oil rigging is a big thing, you know, we were right on. Regardless of what else happened, we had that. We had preparation.

 

J.T.: When you toured did you ever do any of the USO shows or spots at the military bases?

McMahon: No, but I’m very military. I was in two wars. I was in the Marine Corp. for, between active duty and retired duty, twenty-three years and I came out of the Corp a Colonel, so I was very active in the Marine Corp, but we never…I did some USO shows, but we never did any together.

 

J.T.: How is your program Operation DVD doing? Is it garnering support from the movie distribution industry?

McMahon: This program accomplishes two things: the troops are entertained and they know that citizens at home care and support them. The program collects new and used DVDs and distributes them to the soldiers stationed overseas. They have collected approximately 250,000 DVDs in the year the program has been running. My attitude is that, no matter what you think about the war, it doesn’t make any difference; young men are fighting it, so you’ve got to support them.

 

 

J.T.: I was never in the military, but I have been in the quasi-law enforcement arena and a lot of people would look at this and say, ‘Are people just sitting around in Iraq watching DVDs all day?’ and they don’t understand that that type of life is ninety percent tedium and ten percent sheer terror.

McMahon: Yeah and the fact that you can’t play baseball, you can’t play soccer, you can’t play basketball because you’re a target. People just don’t understand that. My attitude is that, and I said this while I was doing publicity for this, no matter what you think about the war, it doesn’t make any difference; young men are fighting it, so you’ve got to support them. We’re in it no matter what and you’ve got to support them.

 

America was home and witness to the most enduring comedic coupling of our time, and for this, we are fortunate. The snippets of scenes showing Johnny with a marmoset on top of his head, the endless parade of guests who’s career were launched from that Burbank stage, the booming laughter of Ed falling under the spell of his friend; all of these memories are magical. Yet, that is what they are now; collective memories. Shortly after midnight on June 23rd, 2009, Ed McMahon passed away peacefully in his sleep. Although the ‘Tonight Show’ spanned decades and created it’s own culture of comedy, for all of us, the multi-colored curtain has closed too soon, but at least we can take comfort in knowing that two lifelong friends have been reunited.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOJL0EreRu8′]

The Rickey Medlocke Interview

By Leave a Comment

The Guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd Speaks Out

May 9th, 2007

During a recent telephone interview, I caught up with Rickey Medlocke, one of the three lead guitarists in the current Lynyrd Skynyrd line up. Rickey was one of the original drummers for Lynyrd Skynyrd back in the early seventies who eventually went on to form the southern rock band Blackfoot, so named due to his American Indian heritage.

J.T.: Now, if I remember right, years ago you were in Skynyrd, but you were playing drums.

Rickey: Yeah, I was one of the original drummers, yeah.

J.T.: Do you ever miss being a little more in the background?

Rickey: No! No! No! No! Ha ha! Well, of course not! I was the lead singer and lead guitarist for Blackfoot. I mean, I love to play guitar, I love to entertain people. I just wasn’t…I guess I was a good enough drummer, but I wasn’t a great drummer.

J.T.: How is the current tour holding up. Everything still going good?

Rickey: Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah! Everything is going real good, man. We’re just taking it one day at a time, and so far so good. The crowds have been great, it’s a good package. I mean, Hank (Williams Jr.) has a little bit older fans and our fans are a little bit older, but we also get Lynyrd Skynyrd girls from fifteen to fifty-five now, so I think it works out O.K.  The deal is, it’s going good, the crowds are great, they’re all pumped, you know. Hank is Hank and Lynyrd Skynyrd, you know…(Laughs)…what can you say, what can you say!

J.T.: Now, with the younger audiences, do you think your bringing something new to them as well as the presenting the extensive history of Lynyrd Skynyrd?

Rickey: Well, I think so. Last year, we had Three Doors Down out there with us and that was phenomenal. Like I said, the audiences range from fifteen to fifty-five, so, uh, what can you say?

J.T.: With some of the collaborative stuff you guys have been doing with younger artists as well as some of the tour billings with, like you mentioned, Three Doors Down, does that change Skynyrd’s direction at all?

Rickey: Well, that’s really interesting. We’ve been writing for a new CD right now and we’ve been writing with a lot of different writers. We’re involved with a guy that’s been writing and been involved with Velvet Revolver and people like that. We’re writing with a guy that is the guitar player right now for Rob Zombie. On the other side of it, we’re writing with people that’s been, you know, that’s had hits with…country (artists). We’re involved with a bunch of writers and what I think it does is, whatever we put our hands on, it comes out as Lynyrd Skynyrd. Because I think Skynyrd music has a broad spectrum anyway.

J.T.: Yeah, it definitely crosses boundaries. From rock to blues to country…

Rickey: Oh yeah! Sure does, man.

J.T: I know there was some controversy among Skynyrd fans when you introduced the Travelin’ Man duet, where Johnny VanZant sings along with the vocals from the deceased Ronnie VanZant. Is that still part of the performance?

Rickey: Well, this year…I’m not going to let any secrets out, but we’re doing some really different stuff. You know, that came about back on the Thyrty record, and we introduced that and we’ve used it every once in a while, but we’ve got some other surprises in store for everybody on this thing. You know, they’re going to have to come out and check it out.

J.T.: Along those lines, with the song Red, White and Blue, is there more of a patriotic reaction to that song now then when it was released?

Rickey: Well, I think that it’s about the same, maybe a little bit more.  I mean, the one thing that I do know that’s going on in this world today is everything is so polarized, you know? It’s a damn shame, you know? It seems like our country is being pulled completely apart, and for Lynyrd Skynyrd, we’ve been the American band for all these years…and it’s really sad for us to see how this country is being so polarized and pulled apart. When, in reality, a few short years ago, you couldn’t break this country apart… it’s interesting. Now, it’s like everybody’s losing their damn balls, man, and nobody wants to stand up and do anything. So, you know, that’s the whole thing about it; instead of getting stronger, instead of having some damn balls about ourselves, the country’s getting softer, being weaker. I, for myself don’t like to use the band as a platform to talk about politics, because I think that entertainers should definitely stay the hell out of politics, you know what I mean? Because, entertainers…we got our own kind of gig and a lot of Hollywood, those people don’t know what the hell they’re talking about when they get into politics. I mean, Ronald Reagan was a rare case, you know? Ha! That guy was a very rare case, you know? But the point of what I’m getting at is instead of pulling this nation apart, we should be pulling it together, you know? Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent or whatever, we’ve got one of the best countries in the damn world, and guess what? It seems like the damn thing’s being ripped in two.

J.T.: Yeah, it’s like everybody is in their own camps and you can’t say anything cause you don’t know if you’re going to end up in a fist fight.

Rickey: Yeah! Right! Also, its like, just think about it…guys have been cracking jokes for years and years and years and everybody kind of took it in stride. Now, you got to be real careful with what you say because you’re going to end up without a gig, your family is going to be broke, you’re going to be homeless, or whatever. It’s like, this country has become so politically correct, it’s sickening.

J.T.: Well, like what happened with the Dixie Chicks. A two-second comment cost them gigs and appearances.

Rickey: Yeah, I mean, I got my own opinions of the Dixie Chicks, man. You know what? We live in one of the greatest countries in the world, and that’s how they can become as wealthy as they’ve become. You know what I mean? By living in a place where they’ve had the opportunity to do that. But you know, man? At the end of the day, when it’s all said and done, we live in a great nation and we should learn to appreciate what we’ve got. People…just take everything for granted, you know, and that’s a damn shame, man.

The prolific powerhouse that is Lynyrd Skynyrd rolls on, playing town after town with various acts such as Saliva, Hank Williams, Jr. and Kid Rock. The group has faithfully released new material, starting with the album Vicious Cycle in 2003 and the most recent edition to their eclectic repertoire, Gods And Guns, was released in September, 2009. While there are those fervent purists who believe that the real Lynyrd Skynyrd perished in a flash of flames in a swamp in Magnolia, Mississippi, the true tradition of Southern Rock has been loyally carried on, with still one more from the road just around the corner.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9MXvO_8BiM’]

Southern Boys, Simple Men

By Leave a Comment

Southern Rock Is Pronounced Lynyrd Skynyrd

“Well every time that I come home nobody wants to let me be
It seems that all the friends I got just got to come interrogate me
Well, I appreciate your feelings and I don’t want to pass you by
But I don’t ask you about your business, don’t ask me about mine”
~Gary Rossington/Ronnie VanZant

Don’t Ask Me No Questions

The iconic band that is Lynyrd Skynyrd is at once an ever changing amalgam of talent as well as a indestructible thread holding together the roots of American rock. From their auspicious beginnings, practicing in a carport in the summer of ’64 in Alabama, to their recent Rowdy Frynds tour with Hank Williams Jr., Lynyrd Skynyrd has remained true to their origins, playing the type of music that has made their name synonymous with “southern rock”.  The history of Lynyrd Skynyrd is one of tragedy, turmoil and triumph. Yet, throughout it all, their music plays a testament to the undying appeal of their sound and words.

The original line up of what was to become Lynyrd Skynyd was formed in 1964 with Bob Burns, Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins and Larry Junstrom. They practiced in the carport at Bob’s house, which gave inspiration for their original band name, “My Backyard”. “The Noble Five” quickly supplanted that name as the boys melded their Southern blues sound with the prevalent country influences that resonated throughout the south at that time. With the introduction into the mix of British invaders such as Free, The Beatles, Beck and Clapton, their sound was all but complete. There was an ever-changing roster of names that the group called themselves while they honed their sound; The Wildcats, The Sons of Satan, Conqueror Worm, The Pretty Ones and The One Percent. Then, one night at the Forrest Inn, Ronnie called out to the crowd, ‘Hey, we’re Leonard Skinner and we’re gonna play for y’all tonight’. Leonard Skinner, it should be noted, was the name of the gym teacher whom Gary and Ronnie had problems with on a regular basis. Most of the people in the crowd had had problems as well, so the new name was met with a thunderous applause. Later, the band would change the vowels in the name to y’s to “protect the guilty”.

            By 1970, having honed their musicianship in countless bars and taverns, Lynyrd Skynyrd cut some demos of the originals that they had accumulated, using Quin Ivy’s studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, returning in ’71 to make a full album at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. Skynyrd was finally signed in 1972 by Al Kooper, who also produced their first three albums: pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd (1973), Second Helping (1974) and Nuthin’ Fancy (1975). They immediately caught the eye of Pete Townshend who signed them up as an opening act for The Who’s Quadrophenia Tour.

Skynyrd was promptly propelled into a world of fame that they may have yearned for, but were perhaps not wholly prepared to deal with. Various changes in the band’s line-up, exhaustive touring and an accelerated drug and alcohol intake served to create fissures in the once impervious Southern rock band. Tom Dowd stepped in as producer on the Gimme Back My Bullets album, bringing with him a discipline and focus the band desperately needed.

Steve Gaines filled the void that Ed King left during the Torture Tour, bringing the band back to it’s original three lead guitars. They once again became a tight performance group, as captured in the 1976 live album One More From The Road.  The revived Skynyrd next created Street Survivors, arguably the band’s best since Second Helping. The album cover showed the group engulfed in flames and one of the songs held the lyric “The smell of death surrounds you” which ominously alluded to an impending tragedy that loomed on the horizon.

On October 20, 1977, just three days after the release of Street Survivors, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s tour plane, nicknamed “Freebird”, ran out of gas due to a mechanical failure, crashing into a marshy bog on Johnny Mote’s farm in Magnolia, Mississippi, killing band members Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, back-up vocalist and Steve’s sister Cassie Gaines. Skynyrd’s road manager, Dean Kilpatrick and the two pilots also died from the crash, as all of the deceased were in the front section that broke apart on impact. The other twenty or so passengers were injured to some degree or another. Powell’s nose had been utterly mangled, Gary Rossington suffered numerous broken bones and contusions, and Allen Collins had a hefty piece of metal embedded in his arm. Artimus Pyle, the drummer, managed to walk to get assistance, but suffered a shotgun blast by a person mistaking him for an intruder.

With only two of the original members surviving the crash, the days of Lynyrd Skynyrd seemed to have come to a fiery end. The label quickly pulled all the copies of “Street Survivors” depicting the band surrounded by flames. The following year, MCA records released the Muscle Shoals sessions and titled it Skynyrd’s First…and Last. Some of the members played with bands like Molly Hatchet, Alias and .38 Special. Gary Rossington and Allen Collins went on to form The Rossington Collins band in the early eighties after Rossington had undergone extensive surgeries to regain the use of his arm.

Tragedy still stalked the musicians when Artimus Pyle suffered a leg injury in a motorcycle accident, Allen Collins’ pregnant wife suddenly died and a 1984 car crash paralyzed both of Collins’ legs and killed his girlfriend. Collins died in 1990 after succumbing to pneumonia.

A 1987 concert commemorating the 1977 plane crash found Ronnie’s brother, Johnny Van Zant stepping into the spotlight as lead singer, showing the world that the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd was far from forgotten. Through many permutations over the years, Skynyrd has recorded several new albums, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, performed innumerable concerts and held onto the sound that has made the freebird a phoenix of American rock and roll culture.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDrk5DBHle8′]

The Aug Man Cometh

By Leave a Comment

Auggie Smith and the Subtle Dangers of Censorship

There are comedians who carpet bomb the audience in the statistical hope that most of their hurled bon mots and humorous bits land on target with an explosion and not a fizzle. Auggie Smith does not succumb to this temptation, instead relying on his rapid-fire delivery, spewed forth in a breathless scream of consciousness that leaves the audience no quarter. Aug is more of a consummate storyteller, weaving reality with the absurd so flawlessly as to draw the audience into a world of his own design. There are no “jokes” or “bits”, just an unpretentiously intelligent torrent of guttural humor and angst that rises and falls, peaking at precisely the right moments. The reaction from the audience range from apoplectic laughter to a shocked indignation, as if they had just received a Cheney scatter shot to the face. One walks away from the performance not remembering a single line verbatim, just a different viewpoint and an afterglow of a cathartic release.

His comedic fodder is comprised of broad political satire and a repertoire of staccato rants ranging from the oppressive fear being foisted on the American public to Barbie getting raw dogged by G.I. Joe while he suffers a ‘Nam flashback. He draws from the world at large, but he doesn’t feel the need to use the stage for his own political agenda.

“Personally, I may have particular views and vote for particular people and I don’t

care, you know, that I don’t expect people to have my political opinions when I’m on stage.” Auggie said during a recent phone interview. “I’m not trying to change minds, I’m trying to make people laugh.”

Freedom of speech is of paramount importance to Auggie, as it is the structure on which his craft is based, but also on a personal level that all people should be attuned to.

“Yeah, well, people’s view of what freedom of speech is completely messed up now.” he said. “Freedom of speech means that you might get your feelings hurt, and that’s exactly what it means. It doesn’t mean we don’t offend anybody. Freedom of speech is that people will be offended and that’s the point of it, and when you take that away, we’re, we’re done.”

The political and social sensitivity welling in this country and the ease in which people in general have the uncanny knack of finding offenses where none truly exist, seems to make the comedic landscape a minefield waiting for a big ol’ clown shoe to come along.

“Yeah, yeah….maybe they shouldn’t leave the house if they’re going to be offended by other people’s words. It’s probably best that you never come into contact with anybody else.” Auggie stated, somewhat perturbed. “That’s probably the best game plan for them…and what it is, is people have to be morally superior over others and they decide ‘Well, morally, I’m better than you so I can decide what you can and cannot say and what’s morally objectionable’ and here’s the thing; it doesn’t offend me. So is there something wrong with me? Am I a bad person for not being offended by that? You know, because that’s the way the logic has to go.”

It seems that the current political atmosphere is so devoid of humor that one is loath to joke about the powers that be for fear of risking a heated confrontation. It used to be that anyone could make a joke about Clinton’s indiscretions or Dan Quayle’s complete ineptitude, and there would be a laugh, regardless of any affiliations. Now it is like a simple satirical jest can get you labeled as being anti-American.

“The problem, you…you’re talking about a couple of different issues here. If you’re talking specifically about the current administration here, yeah. I think there are people who have forgotten that it is our job to be anti-establishment.” Auggie went on to state that, “It is the comedian’s job to, uh, comment on the government and it is a comedian’s job to have a problem with the powers that be. We’ve become so aligned with our various political parties, uh, that we do not see the humor in them anymore. That is true. Um, and the fact that this, this turf war that we have going between Democrats and Republicans, and so one political party has your best interest at heart, yeah, right, for Christ’s sake! Like they’re not just a collection of millionaires that are designed to further people’s political careers, and instead are… for you, the common man. That bothers me, that people are under that assumption.”

When Auggie Smith takes the stage, he is not there to entertain you; he is not there to tell you a couple of amusing little jokes. He shall rise to become your personal, self-proclaimed Sherpa, shepherding you through life’s mysterious and often frightening landscape. Give your life over to the Aug Man and he will guide and protect you from all of the sharks, senior citizen NASCAR drivers and violently voracious vending machines that besiege you on your chosen path. Praise be to Aug.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqqKFB4Le6I’]