Sunshine

  Paris Mountain State Park would have free concerts from time to time.  There was a small stage and an amphitheater made of stone.  So, it was announced that the folk singer Jonathan Edwards was going to play for free.  He had a hit called "Sunshine" back in 1971.  A lot of radio stations didn't play it at the time, because the word "damned" was in it.  Some stations bleeped the word.  That was the environment back then.  I was excited to see him for free.

 The show was to start around 7pm.  I got there early to get a good seat.  I even played around on the stage for a few minutes.  It's the performer in me.  People started coming into the area for the show.  A few "roadies" showed up to set up the sound and lights.  A man was introduced as Jonathan Edwards, and he began to sing.  I noticed he seemed younger than I would have thought for a guy who had a hit in 1971, but maybe he looked young for his age.  His music was pretty good as acoustic folk.  I noticed that some in the audience started looking puzzled at his song selection.  None of the songs were familiar.  He had just about finished his first set, when someone from the audience yelled out for him to play "Sunshine".  He stopped and said he wasn't THAT Jonathan Edwards.  They just had the same name.  He said THAT Jonathan Edwards was from Minnesota.  He was from Atlanta.

 Even the newspaper had advertised this singer as the one who had the hit "Sunshine".  So, most of us got up and left.  I don't know how many stayed for his second set, but I don't think there were many.  I kind of felt sorry for this guy.  I am sure that audiences had been confused like that before.  As we headed toward the parking lot, there was a lot of grumbling.  At least it was free.

Reunion

  We are not much on family reunions.  It is usually when someone dies.  To have a reunion just to be having one is not something our family does.  So, when I got an email from some cousins in Richmond, Virginia to have a reunion, I said okay.  One thing I found was I didn't fit into my dress pants anymore and had to buy new clothes.  I was no longer the same size I was in the 8th grade.  That was a surprise.

 As I was living in Greenville and having a questionable car, they told me that they would pay for my plane ticket and motel in Richmond.  The last time that I flew out of the Greenville/Spartanburg airport was in 1973 on the start of our trip to Europe.  The airport had changed some by 2008.  I am not the best kind of airplane passenger.  I loaded up on stomach medication and gum to tolerate the flight.  The trick of chewing gum upon takeoff and landing was something I learned during our Europe trip.  The plane did not go directly to Richmond.  We flew from Greenville to Cleveland, Ohio before flying to Richmond.  That didn't make much sense to me, but you just deal with it.

 I had not flown after 9/11, so I knew there would be extra security.  I knew to wear loafers for shoes, but I didn't know they wanted me to take off my belt, too.  So, I emptied out my pockets and held up my pants to keep them up.  The security was tight, and then I was put in a holding area before the plane was ready to board.  We left Greenville and flew over some beautiful farmland.  I had never been to Ohio before.  The farms turned into an industrial city of Cleveland.  It was kind of dirty looking from the air.  Maybe it was nicer on the ground.  We landed at the airport there, and I had just a few minutes to make my connection to Richmond.  

 When we got to Richmond, one of my cousins picked me up and took me to the motel.  I had never met him before, and I found that I didn't know many there.  The motel was nice, and I went exploring.  He would pick me up the next day and take me to his house for the start of the reunion.  The next day was Saturday, and we all got acquainted.  We talked about our families.  This was the Merrill side, which was my Mother's side of the family, but most of my cousins came from a branch that was related through my Grandfather who was married before he married my Grandmother.  

 One of the things I learned was about a goldmine we owned in Alabama.  I was shocked.  No one had ever mentioned anything about a goldmine.  I saw aerial pictures of it.  One of my cousins mentioned that they had gone through some papers that my Uncle Carl had.  We was an attorney.  After he died, they had found the deed to the goldmine.  It seemed to still be valid, although the mine had been tapped out of gold, so they said.  It is neat to have a goldmine in the family, but it doesn't seem to be worth anything anymore.  If I'm ever down that way, I might take a pick and shovel just to see if they got it all.

 That Sunday, we went to the Jefferson Hotel for lunch.  It was really swanky.  They told me that the grand staircase in the hotel was the model for the Tara staircase in "Gone With the Wind".  The stairs were steep, so one had to be extra careful not to tumble down them.  After lunch, we took a bus tour of downtown Richmond.  We saw a lot of historical things, and went by the First Baptist Church.  My father had been on staff there around 1950, before they moved to New Orleans.  One of my older cousins bragged that my father built the educational building of that church.  I know he designed some churches, when he got to South Carolina, but I don't know how true my cousin's story was.  It was interesting.  As an editorial comment now, I would like to say that I oppose the taking down of the monuments in Richmond.  I'm sorry if that offends anyone.  We also got to see where Edgar Allan Poe lived.  That was cool.

 On Monday, it was time to fly back to Greenville by way of Cleveland.  I thanked my cousins for their hospitality.  When the plane got to Cleveland, there was a little layover.  I explored the terminal and then got back for boarding.  An announcement was made that the plane had some mechanical issues that needed to be fixed before leaving.  We watched them work on an engine.  It probably would have been better to just bring up another plane, but they didn't have any.  When it was time to board, we all got on kind of reluctantly.  We eventually took off for Greenville.  As we approached the airport, off to our left were some hot air balloons floating around.  They had a festival that day.  We landed at the airport, and I was very glad to get my feet back on the ground.  It was good to see some family I never knew existed before.  

Boz

  One great thing about living in Greenville is that it is pretty much halfway between Atlanta and Charlotte, so a lot of artists would come to Greenville to do concerts.  When it was announced that Boz Scaggs was coming to the Peace Center in downtown Greenville, I got excited.  I loved his music, especially on his album "Silk Degrees" that came out when I was working in the Sanger-Harris record department in the late 1970's in Fort Worth. 

 When tickets went on sale, I went down to the box office to buy a ticket.  I told the girl in the box office that I wanted to buy a ticket for the Boz Scaggs concert.  She was rather young and said that she had never heard of Boz Scaggs.  She asked me if he was related to Ricky Scaggs.  I told her no and that it was different music.  She was confused.

 I couldn't afford a downstairs ticket, so I got one in the balcony.  The show was great.  He played all of his hit songs.  I sang along with them.  While I was enjoying the show, I felt a hand on my left knee that wasn't mine.  I looked next to me, and there was an elderly woman smiling.  I tried to move my knee away from her hand, but she kept it there on my knee.  I wondered if she didn't have feeling in her hand and didn't know it was on my knee, but then I guessed she did know and was just frisky.  At any rate, I was rather uncomfortable and found myself giving Boz standing ovations, even if no one else was.  When the show was over, she and I went our separate ways.  She could have been a lonely widow with a lot of money.  I'll never know.

 I had brought my album "Moments" with me, in hopes that Boz would autograph it.  "Silk Degrees" would have been better, but the dark background wouldn't show the signature with a black sharpie.  I went to the stage door to wait on everyone to come out.  A guy came up to me and asked me if I wanted a backstage pass to enter the building.  Of course, I said yes.  He ushered us into a hallway where the dressing rooms were.  One by one, the band members came out to head to their cars.  I got to see Greg Phillinganes, who played keyboards for the band.  That was a thrill for me.  He has played with Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and may more.  He said hello.  Then, our guide came to us and said that Boz was feeling bad after the show and was dehydrated, so we couldn't meet him.  I was disappointed, but it was still cool to get backstage.  And, despite an old lady grasping my knee, I had a great time.

Courier

  When I moved to Greenville, I wanted to do my Bible character monologues in local churches.  There are probably more churches per inch in Greenville than anywhere on the planet.  Maybe not, but you know what I mean.

 First, I started to see if anyone else was doing the same thing.  No need for competition.  I found a man in Easley, SC who did that sort of thing, so I contacted him and made an appointment to talk with him.  We met at the Barnes and Noble in Greenville.  He ordered coffee, and I ordered tea.  If you read my story about coffee and eating beans in the third grade, you know why I don't drink coffee.  We talked for about an hour about churches, and which ones liked Drama.  He said that his wife handled all of the promotion and booking.  Since I didn't have a wife, I would have to do that all myself.

 I started looking around at how I could promote myself.  When I graduated from seminary, there were only four of us in the Southern Baptist Convention to did Religious Drama.  Now it was 2008, and a lot more people were doing it, so I had to find a way to remind people who I was.  One saying in the Theatre is that you are only as good as your last performance.  I don't consider doing my monologues as "performances", because the focus is on me and not the message, but you get the point.  

 It dawned on me that the South Carolina Baptists have a monthly publication called "The Baptist Courier".  It goes out to individuals and churches in South Carolina and beyond.  I thought it would be a perfect avenue to promote me to those who might want me to come to their churches for my presentations.  It would consist of me doing a monologue and sharing my testimony.  I was also available for workshops to teach others how to do church drama.  

 I made an appointment to visit with the editor of the Courier.  I had known him since my days at Anderson College.  His name was Don, and he had been on the staff at the school.  When I walked into his office, we caught up on old times and then got down to business.  I told him what I wanted to do, and the interview went on for a couple of hours.  I told him about my experience, and about being the first person at my seminary to graduate with a degree in Communications.  I told him about the film and TV work that I had done, and the people I had worked with.  We talked about my doing puppet shows in other cities and towns related to Vacation Bible Schools.  We talked about my parents and their work in churches and the denomination.  I thought it couldn't hurt that my father had been in denominational work, because I knew there were some pastors who would have remembered him.  After the interview, Don asked me if I wanted to go to lunch with him.

 We left the office and headed to a nice restaurant.  When we got our food, he asked me a question that just about floored me.  He asked me if I was gay.  I immediately said no.  He said he didn't think I was, since he had seen me with girls at Anderson, but he said he had to ask.  He said that there would be pastors who would wonder why a 55 year old man had never married.  I told him that I had never married, because I was too focused on a career.  Also, because I never had found the right girl.  That last part was a lie.  I had found the right girl, but circumstances made it impossible to move forward.  At any rate, he asked the question I had been asked before throughout my life, and the answer was the same. 

 We got back to his office, and he asked if I would provide pictures of my work and a head shot to be used in the Courier.  I came back two days later and dropped off that material on a disc to be used in the article.  Don said the story would appear in the next issue.  The next month came and no article.  I called and was told it would be in the following month's issue.  I waited another month and then no article about me.  I went to Don's office to inquire why it hadn't run.  He told me that the editorial board felt that they shouldn't run an article promoting me, because if they did, they would have to have articles about all dramatists.  I told Don that they have articles about specific preachers or missionaries in the Courier.  What's the difference?  He then said that he was worried that if any conservative pastors questioned my marital status, rumors could start, and they could lose readership and advertisers.  So, because I was a 55 year old unmarried man, I could not get any article written about me in a Baptist publication.  I was stunned.  I had graduated from the largest seminary in the world.  I had done work around the Convention.  My father was a pioneer in the Southern Baptist Convention.  My mother had written Sunday School lessons for the Southern Baptist Convention.  I had an uncle who was the Director of the Florida Baptist Convention.  I personally knew many giants of the faith.  BUT, because I had never been married...

 This incident kind of put me off of church work.  I know I could have tried the Methodists or the Presbyterians, but my experience and love had been in the Baptist church.  I carry around a wedding ring on my keyring from the play "Blithe Spirit" that I did at Anderson in 1973.  I then wore that ring in Europe to ward off guys that wanted to mess with the girls on the trip.  Maybe, I should have worn that ring and lied that my wife had died in a horrible airplane crash.  But you know me?  Mr. Honesty.  I have never been willing to lie to get a job.  I guess that's why I have never taught Theatre in a Christian college.  I have never wanted to compromise my beliefs to get a job.  Instead of wanting to do church work in Greenville, I gave up and decided to hang out and watch TV.  Not very fulfilling, but at least no one was spreading rumors about me.  Their loss.

Joe Biden

  I was down at the State House in Columbia one day in 2008 to see Senator Joe Biden speak.  He was running for President and holding a press conference.  He made mention in his remarks that he had begun his political journey in 1972 and worked on McGovern's campaign for President.  After the press conference was over, I went up to the front and wanted to meet him.  We shook hands, and then I told him that we have something in common.  (Whenever I meet someone famous, I lead with that line so they will listen.)

 I told him that I started my political campaign work with McGovern for President in 1972.  He looked at me and with a wry smile said, "That was the loneliest time".  We had a good laugh over that, and I agreed with him that it was.  For those of you who don't know, McGovern lost to Nixon in a landslide.  

 Little did I know that Joe Biden would be the Vice President of the United States four years later and running for President in 2020.  And, for those of you who don't know, I am a political junkie.  I love politics.  I vote for the man, not the party.  

 

Recording

 The Cobbwebs had not officially recorded any new music for a few years, but it was time to get back in the studio.  Our first cd was "Magic Boat", and it did very well in some countries in Europe.  Not so much in the U.S., except on the west coast.  So, we wanted to try again.  I was living in Greenville; Del was living in Columbia; and Chris was outside Nashville.  Chris had a recording studio in his home, so we went there.  Del's father drove him up to Greenville to meet me.  I rented a car, and the two of us went to Tennessee.  

 The trip through the mountains was a long one, and we encountered snow and ice along the way.  I know how to drive in that stuff, but going along winding roads on an interstate was interesting.  Del was sure we were going to slide off and die, but I made sure we didn't.  We got to Chris's house late in the day and settled in for a good night's sleep and recording the next day.  We had about three days to make it work.  Del and Chris locked themselves in the studio, and I spent the time on the computer and watching TV, since I didn't play any instruments or sing.  I just wrote the lyrics.  When I got bored, I went upstairs to the studio and watched the recording.  Del and I slept in one of their kids' rooms.  The bed was small but okay.  It reminded me years before, when I slept in a small bed on a choir trip to Georgia.  

 One night, a friend of theirs named Kimber Manning came by.  She was a country and gospel artist.  She seemed nice.  After marathon recording sessions, the cd was complete.  We left Nashville (Antioch) without seeing much of the city.  We did go to a couple of used record stores while there.  It had snowed overnight there, and we left with ice on the road once again.  We came there on I-40, which was a pretty boring drive, so we decided to go back on I-75 to Atlanta and then up to Greenville.  I must say that I-75 is not my favorite drive.  The roads are winding around Chattanooga, and then there is a steep drive down toward Atlanta.  Thankfully, there wasn't ice on the drive down the mountain.  Had there been, they had places along the road that you could get off.  Mainly they were for trucks that lost brakes, but we didn't try to imitate "The Dukes of Hazzard" flying off of a ramp into some dirt.

 While we were making the trip back, Del and I were listening to the demo cd from the recording sessions.  We were picking out what could be the hits, or the singles for release.  Del is very critical of his work, much like I am, and he was very pleased with the vocals and arrangements.  The plan was for Chris to mix everything at his studio and come out with a final product in about a week.  Del's father met him in Greenville and took him back home to Columbia.  I turned in the rental car, and waited for the final cd.

 A few days later, Del emailed us to say that upon further listening that he was not pleased with the outcome.  He said it sounded too Country, and we were a Rock and Roll band.  As it turned out, he let his roommate listen to the cd, and those criticisms came from his roommate and not Del.  But, his roommate had convinced Del that the music wasn't good.  The Cobbwebs had an agreement early on that it had to be a unanimous vote to proceed, and the vote was 2-1 with Del voting no.  So, the cd was scrapped.  Some of the music has appeared online, but The Cobbwebs has never been a band since.  We made some good music, dare I say "great music".  Everyone has said they liked our work.  You might hear some of it on YouTube by typing in the name "Cobbwebs".  Be sure and spell it like that.  There might be some stuff on other music sites, too.  I hope you like it.  Just thinking about what might have been.

George & Renee

 Just before I moved to Greenville, a movie called "Leatherheads" was filmed there.  It was directed and starred George Clooney along with Renee Zellweger.  Around April 1st, the city announced that they would be giving the key to the city to those two and everyone should come out to welcome them.  They would also be doing autographs.
 I went to a local bookstore and found a magazine called "Creative Screenwriting", which I had never heard of, but it had a nice cover picture of the two from the movie.  I bought it with my intentions of getting them to sign it.
 The big day arrived, and I went downtown to the Poinsett Hotel for the celebration.  When I got there, many people had already arrived.  I got a place near a fence surrounding a fountain out front.  The mayor was there to do the honors.  After the presentation, the two stars began signing things.  The film company had passed out 11"x17" mini-posters of the movie for those getting autographs, but I wanted them to sign my magazine.  As George approached me, he was signing fast.  I stuck out my magazine for him to sign, and he did.  I said "Thank you", and he said "You're welcome".  He was very nice.  Then, it was Renee's turn to go through the gauntlet of fans.  She got about five along and stopped.  I was close to her and heard her tell her assistant that she couldn't get her high heels through the bricks that were in front of the hotel, so she would have to stop signing.  I yelled out at her assistant could she please just sign one more.  Her assistant handed my magazine to her, and she signed it.  I was the last person she signed for that day.  So, I had both autographs on my magazine.  Most people just got George's.
 After he had made the rounds through the crowd, they both went inside to have a little lunch.  Most of the crowd left, but there were a few of us who stayed around hoping for another glimpse or autographs.  We were told by their people that they would be coming out of a side door to get in their cars, and we should wait there.  About 15 of us waited.  Finally, they emerged through the side door.  We were yelling "Renee" and "George".  I had my black sharpie with me just in case, and I had my mini-poster to get signed.  Renee waived and got into her car.  George came over to us and said he was going to be late for his flight, but he signed a few in the front.  I was toward the back of our group, so I didn't get him to sign my poster, but a little chaos broke out, and a woman in front of me started jumping up and down to get an autograph.  My sharpie slipped, and I "signed" her arm.  I bet she thought George had signed her arm.  I wonder if she ever washed it off.  He waived to us and thanked us for coming.  He got in his car and they left.  George Clooney was extremely gracious.  Renee Zellweger I think was a bit overcome by the crowd, but at least I got them both to sign my magazine.  No one else could say that, and that is special to me.