Friday, September 30, 2005

My friend Abby


What the heck is the deal? I lost another friend today. A very good friend of mine didn't show up for work today, they went looking for her and...you can guess the rest. When I moved to St. Louis to work for the mighty KSHE95, one of the people who went out of their way to make me feel at home was Abby. We understood that we were a part of rock history in St. Louis. At the time, she worked for Irv Zuckerman at Contemporary Productions, the people who booked all of the rock shows, and since we were the ONLY rock station, we saw each other a lot. When the assistant promotion directors's job opened at KSHE, she was perfect. She is also responsible for sneaking me in the back door of KSHE the last go around. Fun, creative, excited, and a damn fine person, I am glad to be called one of her friends. If it is true you are judged by the company you keep, I am a blessed man. Thanks, Jim Marchyshyn for bringing her to KSHE, thanks Al, for the phone call (I think).RIP, Abby, gone at 45. Done too soon.

On The Road...

This week started with a 10 hour drive from St. Louis to Menomonee WI (that is about 40 miles east of St. Paul). My first appointment was in Luck, WI and the guy I met turned out to have worked on radio in the Quad Cities in the early to mid 60s. I am absolutely sure I heard him on the local radio station. It was a very good meeting considering how the relationship was when I got there. I left there and travelled Highway 8 across upper Wisconsin to Wausau. Stopping in Rice Lake, Ladysmith and Tomahawk. I really like Wausau, seems like a nice friendly place to be. I left Wausau in a driving rain storm and drove from Wausau to Antigo and then through the Menomonee Indian Reservation and National Forest to Shawano. How friggin' beautiful! The leaves are turning colors and the ride was mellow. I ended up in Milwaukee and had dinner with an old comrade of mine Bob Bateman, who does afternoons on the country station there. Had dinner at the Victory Inn where they had wings for $.35. I'll have ten, please. Bob was great to talk to, one of the great sounding guys after all these years. While I was in Milwaukee, I heard my friend Jay Philpott doing afternoons on "The Hog" (Milwaukee is the home of Harley-Davidson). I had breakfast with Jay and he gave me the tour of the Saga cluster there. What a very great company Saga is. The vibe from the cluster was very good. Beautiful building in the middle of town. As I was leaving Milwaukee to head to Burlington Iowa, I heard that the Brewers game was going to be free yesterday and if I didn't have commitments, that would be cool. I don't think Learfield would appreciate me going to a game on their time, so I passed. For the first time ever, I believe, I put !!!$50!!! in the gas tank of my rental car (Ford Taurus). This was in Lyndon Il. I made it to Burlington with 15 minutes to spare but the people I was going to meet must have left the station early (the sign said Business hours 8-4:30 and I got there at 4.) That is where I am now and I will meet with the folks and head home. What a cool job, in western Wisconsin one day, Iowa the next, who knows next week.

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