Among all the other hats I wear, I’m also a volunteer and board member for the Blair County Chapter of PA Cleanways (www.pacleanways.org).  PA Cleanways is an organization whose mission is to clean up illegal dump sites throughout the state, and empower individuals, businesses and organizations to clean their neighborhoods, footpaths, highways and other places that are prone to litter.  We also are involved with recycling projects and educating people about the importance of keeping their environment clean.  I’ve been a member of Cleanways for close to a decade.

My duties in Cleanways include participating in illegal dump site clean-ups.  The clean-ups are organized in advance; involving gaining permission from property owners, municipalities and appropriate government agencies, enlisting volunteers, obtaining equipment and supplies necessary for performing the clean-up, and finally, doing the clean-up.  Each clean-up is different, from the type of setting being cleaned up (roadside, river or stream side, bike path, other public lands, etc.) to the items being cleaned up, to the terrain of the land, weather conditions and more.  It’s ultimately rewarding to arrive at a place that has been trashed out, pick up and remove the trash, and return that land to its natural beauty.

I just participated in our latest clean-up this morning.  We were cleaning up an area just off Sugar Run Road between Altoona and Gallitzin, the dirt road that runs from Sugar Run Road to the Norfolk Southern main line railroad tracks.  The road runs through Altoona Water Authority property heading up the hillside to the tracks, and the Water Authority partnered with the Blair County Chapter of PA Cleanways to clean up several areas where ignorant people dumped tires, trash, deer carcasses and other debris.

The deer carcasses were right at the foot of the road, near where it connects with Sugar Run Road.  And the carcasses were still “ripe,” too.  It made us eager to step away from our parked cars and walk up the road to where the bulk of the dump sites were!

The main dump area was about 500 yards up the road and around the bend, where a large amount of tires, old appliances and other trash had been dumped over a steep hillside.  I’m not good with steep hillsides, so I wasn’t directly involved in this section of the clean-up.  But since I also do photography for the Blair County Chapter’s website, I observed and photographed other volunteers using ATV’s to drag bundles of tires and large appliances up the steep hillside to the road, where the items could be loaded into pick-up trucks and trailers and transported to roll-offs located at the base of the road.  Getting the tires cleaned up is especially important, since each tire can be a potential mosquito breeding ground whenever it collects rainwater. 

I headed further up the road to a less steep hillside area, where several smaller dump sites were located.  I picked my way through the brush, thorns and other greenery to pick up an assortment of items; including the usual suspects you find at these things – discarded plastic water and soda bottles, soda and beer cans, beer bottles, Styrofoam cups and containers (Styrofoam, by the way, pretty much can last forever, so once it’s tossed from a car window, it can be a permanent fixture on a roadside unless somebody picks it up), roof shingles, rusty aerosol cans and other household junk.  I had to push and pull and few larger items and maneuver them up to the road, including a deteriorating mattress, a metal tabletop, an old laundry hamper halfway submerged in mud and leaves, and some large pieces of disposed carpeting.  There are always the surprise things you find discarded in these dump sites as well…I found a mostly full bag of Mardi-gras-styled masks, mostly unused; also a near full bag of mostly unused plastic cups and sauce containers; and a find that actually angered me some – a rain-soaked box of children’s clothing, still left on the hangers, in good usable shape.  The folks who unloaded this stuff must have been too lazy or ignorant to donate this clothing to Goodwill or the Salvation Army, they preferred to just drive it up this dirt road and dump it off in the woods.  What a bunch of slobs, and what a waste! 

Besides picking up trash and cleaning up an area, though, there are little pleasures that go with these clean-ups.  It gets me into the wilderness to enjoy nature, especially doing clean-ups in mostly wooded areas like this one.  At one point, while hoisting a discarded plastic motor oil bottle out of a bunch of wet leaves, I uncovered a small orange salamander.  I thought at first this was a toy lizard, until I saw it move.  I gently lifted the salamander with my hand and moved it out of the way of my clean-up.  (Two boy scouts who were taking part in the clean-up found spotted black salamanders at other dump spots nearby.)  I also observed some interesting deep woods songbirds I usually don’t see at my home bird feeder.

At the end of it, I was again satisfied that the other volunteers and I had successfully cleaned up a natural area and returned it to its former state.  Usually after one of these clean-ups, safeguards are put into place to deter or prevent future dumping, plus these sites are monitored more frequently to watch for future problems.  The disgust of pigs who dump their trash on roadsides and public lands is replaced with the satisfaction that one of these dump sites has been removed.  It’s worth the sore muscles, scrapes and bruises I encounter during such a clean-up.

In the days of my youth…I was a collector.  Almost all of my hobbies as a kid were collecting things.  Matchbox cars.  Stamps.  Records.  Magazines.  Spiders.  (I actually used to capture spiders in jars and take them to school for show-and-tell; then I’d continue to raise and feed them as “pets.”)  And, baseball cards.

With the exception of records and CD’s, I pretty much stopped collecting everything else.  I still have my collections, but for the most part have not added to them in a number of years.  (I don’t collect spiders any more either, but to this day I’d rather catch one in a jar and set it loose outside rather than kill it.)

My baseball card collection has sat stored away in several cartons and boxes in my closet.  I started collecting baseball cards when I was 10 or 11, as I started playing baseball and watching it on television as a kid.  I used to pick up Topps card packs for 10 cents each with my allowance money at Miller’s Store on the way home from church on Sunday mornings.  (I used to donate 10 cents to the collection plate at church, but would spend ten times that amount on baseball cards!)  I traded duplicates with other kids at school, and built up a nice collection of early ‘70s cards.  I continued to actively collect baseball cards well into the ‘80s, but lost interest when the sports card collector “boom” ignited, the market flooded with competitor cards from Fleer, Donruss and other manufacturers (too many to buy), and the price of the cards shot upward.  The only baseball cards I’ve purchased over the past few years have been the Altoona Curve and State College Spikes team sets.

But recently, while waiting in the checkout line at a Family Dollar store, I saw a carton of Topps’ 2009 cards, and out of curiosity and nostalgia, decided to purchase a pack.  Packs of baseball cards now cost ten times what they did when I first started collecting them; this one cost a dollar.  Back in 1971, ten cents bought you a pack of ten baseball cards and a nice-sized slab of bubblegum.  Now, a dollar purchases you seven cards…and a stick of bubblegum.

And like the bubblegum of Topps baseball card packs of yore, this bubblegum lost its flavor after five minutes as well.  While the price of baseball cards have changed, at least the bubblegum hasn't.

“Altoona PA In the middle of the night
Six strings down On the heaven-bound flight
Got a pick, a strap, guitar on his back
Ain’t gonna cut the angels no slack
Heaven done called Another blues-stringer back home
See the voodoo chile Holding out his hand
I’ve been waitin’ on you brother Welcome to the band
Good blues-stringin’ Heaven-fine singin’
Jesus, Mary and Joseph Been lis’nin’ to your playin’
Heaven done called
Another blues-stringer back home
Lord they called
Another blues-stringer back home”.

- “Six Strings Down” by Jimmie Vaughan (adaptation by Sterling Koch)

Eric Vincent “Fat Vinny” Kelly passed away early on Saturday morning, February 21, after suffering a heart attack at his home in Duncansville.  He was just a few days shy of his 42nd birthday.

Eric was a man of many talents.  He was a singer, songwriter, guitarist, radio broadcaster, storyteller, philosopher and friend.  He had served in the military, with stints in both the U.S. Army and Air Force.  On the music front, he played in various Altoona area blues-based bands and projects over the years; including the Porch Dogs, the Lodge Lizzards, and the project that elevated him into the regional and state spotlight, Fat Vinny & the Wiseguys.

Founded in 1999, and named in deference to Eric’s expansive frame and interest in the popular HBO mob comedy/drama The Sopranos, Fat Vinny & the Wiseguys enjoyed regional popularity and acclaim for the next several years; including recognition in the official Sopranos newsletter “The Skinny,” a third-place finish in the 2000 Pittsburgh Blues Challenge, a performance at the 2002 Johnstown Folkfest, and showcase appearances in the 2001 and 2002 editions of the Millennium Music Conference in Harrisburg.  “Fat Vinny’s” robust blues growl and smoking bottleneck slide guitar work defined the group’s signature style and sound, and helped earn the Wiseguys a healthy fan base that spanned from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg, and even as far away as St. Louis, Key West, Austin and Louisville.  Fat Vinny & the Wiseguys released three full-length CD’s: 1999’s The Blues You Can’t Refuse, 2001’s A Different Kind Of Blues, and 2005’s Tight Play.  The group also included two songs on the 2001 Johnstown-based charity compilation CD Rocksbury: Musicians for Kids.

Eric was passionate about the blues, his music, art and beliefs.  He was especially passionate about the blues, and constantly yearned to spread the popularity of this musical form to every audience he touched.  In Fat Vinny & the Wiseguys, Eric used blues as the launching pad to explore various musical directions, spanning rock, jazz, country and more.  His selection of blues-driven remakes in the Wiseguys’ discography reflects this; including Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” (off The Blues You Can’t Refuse), Tom Waits’ “Jockey Full of Bourbon” (A Different Kind Of Blues), Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” (Rocksbury: Musicians for Kids) and AC/DC’s “The Jack” (Tight Play).

Eric was a clever storyteller in his lyrics, and loved to use double-entendre and wit in his words as well.  Double-entendre surfaced in the Wiseguys’ body of work, most notably on the tongue-in-cheek “Vet Bill Blues” (based on a true story about a family pet, but worded to suggest something more risqué) and the somber delta blues-flavored “One More Last Trip Down” (the dark mood of the music suggested mortality, but the lyrics were actually about loading out gear after a show).  Eric was topical as a lyricist, and even gained notoriety in local news with his 2001 song “Time Was (The Norfolk Southern Song),” a somber and reflective ode to the closure of the Hollidaysburg Car Shops.  Eric later reflected his fascination with poker’s growing popularity on the clever and witty “Shuffle Up & Deal,” a song from the Tight Play CD.  He also liked to spin stories of bad guys, shady deals, mysteries of the opposite sex, hanging out with his bandmates and more.

After 2005, Fat Vinny & the Wiseguys slowed down their live performance schedule, playing the occasional private party or public event.  Eric became involved in local politics, and worked with the Blair County Democratic Party.  He stayed involved with music; teaching guitar to students, and playing at coffeehouses from time to time.

It was at a coffeehouse in January where I saw Eric for the last time.  It was during Open Mic Night at the newly-opened Commonplace Coffeehouse near Penn State Altoona.  I walked in as Eric was performing an acoustic mixture of classic rock, blues and country; he finished his set with the aforementioned “Vet Bill Blues,” to the chuckles of the gathered audience.  Moments after Eric’s performance ended, a young woman stepped up to the microphone to recite three poems she had written.  It was her first time ever reciting in front of an audience, and although shy and nervous, she did a good job and received a pleasant response.  A short while later, during a short intermission between other performers, I overheard Eric chatting with the woman nearby, and offering her encouraging words about not being afraid to pursue her art.  That final image of Eric helping an aspiring writer and artist will forever stand out in my memory.

Eric had a heart as big as his frame, and was often first in line to offer his talents to charity concerts and benefit events.  He and the Wiseguys were involved with a number of benefits I helped organize over the years, and helped out such organizations as the American Red Cross, the Make A Wish Foundation of Western Pennsylvania, the Blair County Chapter of PA Cleanways and others.

I’ll carry many happy memories of Eric, including his music, friendship, fun times at shows, conversations, late night post-show breakfasts and radio workplace memories.  (Eric was “Jack Stone” on Q94 for a few years, and also worked some radio in the Huntingdon area.)  He was outgoing, happy, boisterous and proud.  He was a personality, and lived his life with zest and enthusiasm.  You didn’t forget him once you met him.

"Fat Vinny" will be sorely missed.

It's hard to believe it's been well over a year since I posted a Myspace blog!  I guess you can deduce that in my world of writing, Myspace isn't on the top of my priority list.

But occasionally, I find the oddball topic that doesn't really fit into the other forums I write for; that isn't music related, radio related or anything else related.  So those topics wind up here on Myspace.

For those who have not yet heard (and there are still a few of you out there), I was let go from my radio job at Q94 in Altoona last month after over 14 years on air.  Station ownership cited budgetary reasons for cutting me loose.  Fortunately, once word hit the streets that I was a free agent, I was picked up by Rocky 104.9 in Altoona, and am now working there part-time, on air Sunday nights from 6 to midnight, and doing my local music program "The Homegrown Rocker" from 9 to 11 PM.  Big thanks to Tommy Edwards and Rocky for presenting the opportunity to not just stay on the airwaves, but continue to support local music on the airwaves as well!

Since I have a lot more free time on my hands these days (at least until I procure some full-time work hours), I've been taking it easy and logging some time doing some things I hadn't had the time to do much of in recent months, fishing and railfanning.  This week, those two pastimes led to some interesting and surprising experiences.

With the autumn leaves in their full color in these parts, I did an afternoon of fishing at Prince Gallitzin State Park.  The fishing itself was on the slow side; on my first cast, something big took my hook, but got loose before I could reel it all the way in (I suspect it was a largemouth bass).  I didn't get even a nibble for the next three hours! 

Perhaps the slowness of the fishing set the stage for the near coronary experience I had late that afternoon.  I was fishing in the Wyerough area, a small, secluded cove where a tributary stream empties into the main lake.  I had seen a large blue heron fly in towards the rear of the cove, and with fishing rod in hand, I slowly walked towards the rear of the cove to catch a closer look at the heron, as well as cast and see what fish might be lurking further back.  I couldn't see the heron, but did finally hook another fish, a small yellow perch.  I started to return to my tackle box for my fishing pliers to unhook the perch and return it to the water, when suddenly I heard this huge roar resound through the cove - a rapidly approaching jet roar, and it sounded close!  Within two seconds, a Phantom fighter jet roared directly overhead, perhaps 200 yards above me!  It was loud and it was fast, roaring past me before banking off to the left and shooting out over the lake and off into the horizon.  WOW, what a rush!  Startled, I started to again proceed towards my tackle box, when I suddenly heard a second roar, and within seconds, a second Phantom jet doing the same maneuver, overhead and then banking to the left over the main lake - this time, I could see the white exhaust plumes as it completed its turn!  Again, my nerves were on edge after these two close encounters with passing fighter jets.  I made it back to the tackle box, and after I released the fish, I grabbed my Pentax camera (a camera that actually uses film, which I rarely use in this age of digital photography), and put it around my neck, in case any more jets were in the vicinity.  Within another minute or two, I learned that there were, as I again heard the roar of two more approaching jets.  However, these jets were coming over the lake on the other side of the road from where I was, and my view of them was blocked.  I couldn't see them, but heard them as they did the same banking maneuvers and followed the earlier jets off into the horizon.

These jet encounters had me on edge for a few minutes, anticipating if any more were coming - every time I heard a car approaching in the distance, I was waiting for a fast-growing jet roar!  I soon started to settle down, and looking back into the cove, I saw the aforementioned blue heron, calmly walking along the weedbeds bordering the stream and cove, stalking for small fish, frogs and salamanders.  The heron never got close enough for me to get a good photograph, but I watched it in the distance as it went about its business...apparently unfazed by the loud jets.  Soon evening began to arrive, and I noted the contrast of the quiet sunset, with gentle lake waves brushing the shore, the sound of a few crickets and cicadas, and a few wood ducks playing in the water out near the entrance to the cove; compared to the loud roar of the jets earlier.  This afternoon presented a rollercoaster of nerves and excitement!

Then the following afternoon, with temperatures still warm and the sun and leaves bright, I indulged my railfanning jones by doing a short journey to famous Altoona railroad landmark The Horseshoe Curve.  Every October, I like to do an afternoon of train and leaf-watching at the top of the Curve when the leaves are at their colorful peak.  This journey, too, had its surprises, although none as nerve-jarring as the previous afternoon.

I took my digital camera and my notes and notepad along, and climbed the long staircase to the top of the Curve.  (I sometimes wish I lived closer to the Curve, so I could do this upstairs hike each day for my workout!)  I procured a picnic table, and alternated between writing paragraphs for my upcoming Pennsylvania Musician magazine article (with my deadline a week away) and photographing the train traffic against the colorful autumn leaves.  

There were other visitors and tourists checking out the Curve and autumn leaves, including a couple from upper Michigan and some folks from Ontario.  Soon I saw a guy walking up the Kittanning path to the curve, with a tiny brown chihuahua on a leash.  Since my picnic table was near the terminus of this path at the Curve, the new visitor paused at the table, and broke out a water cup to give his little dog a drink.  He began chatting with me.  His name was Dave, and he was a railfan from Philadelphia who has made frequent visits to the Horseshoe Curve and Altoona area.  He was familiar enough with the area to know about Al's Tavern and Tom & Joe's Restaurant, and we were discussing the cuisine at both places.  Dave told me he was working on a model railroad, but a totally different kind of model railroad for the current digital age.  He was photographing the area, and designing his own virtual model railroad based on the Pennsylvania Railroad, as well as the Wopsy Railroad and some of the old mining and lumbering railroads around the region.  He was noting the types of trees along the rail routes, as well as weathered buildings and other topography, in his pursuit of crafting the most realistic virtual train journey he could.  I had never thought about this as a new possibility in the world of model railroading; what a fascinating new twist to this hobby!  Dave also introduced me to the dog, whose name was Marley.  Marley was funny, one of those dogs whose ear movements were an extension of its personality.  I laughed watching Marley's ears twitch as trains would round the curve and wheels would squeal.  The dog was also photogenic, posing for a few pictures I took.

As Dave and I continued to chat, we heard several folks arrive behind us, back near the steps and funicular tram car area.  They sounded like they were getting into position for something, so we both paused our conversation to turn around and take a look.  We saw two middle-aged folks, a man and a woman, dressed up in formal wear, along with a woman in a black cape, apparently a minister.  We were about to witness an impromptu wedding of railfans on the Horseshoe Curve!  The minister led the couple in their vows, and the two kissed, with the rest of us (Dave, myself and a few other visitors) applauding the proceedings at the end.  The groom had brought an acoustic guitar, and at the close of the ceremony, played the "Wedding March" on his guitar!  The newlyweds then posed for various photos against the backdrop of the Horseshoe Curve and fall colors, and left soon afterward.  Dave and I both wondered aloud how often weddings have ever happened at this landmark!  

It had been clouding up during the afternoon, and feeling a few light drops of rain on my arm in late afternoon, I packed up my notebook and camera and descended the Horseshoe Curve.  Again, a very interesting afternoon!

I often wonder if I have a sixth sense about these things.  Often when I have to decide between two options of what to do or where to go on a given day, I always seem to pick out the option that leads to something interesting occurring.  The previous day, I had to decide between Prince Gallitzin State Park or the Juniata River, and I chose Prince Gallitzin and experienced the jet episode and the blue heron.  This day, I decided between fishing or railfanning, and chose the latter, and became the witness to a wedding!

Interesting times, indeed! 

In mid-August, I put my day and night jobs on hold for a week and got away from it all; heading to my idea of paradise on the mid-Atlantic, the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  

An excellent vacation, but as always, TOO DAMN SHORT! I easily could have done the beach bum thing for another week or two. I logged lots of beach and ocean time, and learned this year that renting a beach house with a bunch of friends is THE WAY TO GO! It was like moving into a new home across the street from the ocean! The house was nice, big and spacious, easily able to fit the six members of our entourage. It was equipped with beds, furniture, full kitchen, outdoor grill, indoor and outdoor showers, washer/dryer, three televisions (the living room TV with DVD player) and more. It cost $1,600 to rent for a full week when all was said and done; split evenly among six people, about $270 a person - the cost of two nights in a hotel room at the Outer Banks during this same time of year. So if you have the people and a week's time frame to do it in, a beach house is definitely the more economical way to do an Outer Banks vacation!

Also cool was that one member of our entourage, Kate, wanted to cook for us, so we did most of our meals at the house, and only ventured out to restaurants twice during the whole week. We ate well, too, as Kate fixed up lasagna, steak, shrimp (in lieu of wings, Monday became shrimp night instead of wing night), meat loaf and much more. Then on Friday, the night before we headed back home, we did "leftover night" and finished off whatever was left over from the previous nights. This was a money saver as well, as buying in the food items and cooking them up in house was less expensive than doing the restaurant thing each night.

When we did hit a restaurant, we did two favorites we enjoyed in past years, Sam & Omie's in Nag's Head, and Jimmie's Seafood Buffet in Kitty Hawk.  At Jimmie's, I was a man on a mission; barely seated before I raided the crab leg buffet and gorged; all those weeks practicing at Hong Kong Buffet in Altoona paid off big time, as I extracted crab meat from leg like a seasoned pro!

As I said, I logged a lot of beach and ocean time; also a lot of reading time on the beach. I actually got through two books during the week I was there, a Star Trek novel and Howard Cosell's I Never Played the Game. That's the most reading I've been able to get in since last year's vacation!

The beach was great. Although it seems to get a little busier each year with development and more tourists learning about the area, The Outer Banks still offers up all the beach but half the crowd! Where we were staying, we had lots of room to stretch out on the beach, with only a few other scattered folks here and there. The ocean was fun as well, as we again jumped up and down in the waves like a bunch of little kids!  (And the youngest member of our entourage was 33.)  Towards week's end, the ocean was very calm, too, almost as calm as an inland lake! And during this calm spell, I actually saw a school of small stingrays swim past me about four feet away.

There were lots of other highlights during the week.  One highlight was when I by chance woke up after 6 one morning, grabbed my camera and darted across the road to the beach to photograph an Outer Banks sunrise over the ocean!  Another was sitting on the front porch overlooking the beach late on Sunday night and taking in the Perseids meteor shower. 

When we weren't skygazing and listening to waves rolling into the shore on the front porch at night, we were on a DVD binge inside.  This was the Outer Banks vacation where we discovered the joys of Borat (funny as hell - offensive to about half the world, but funny as hell!).  We also took in our fair share of disaster, war, adventure and general-purpose blow-em-up movies such as Air Force One, Das Boot, Breakdown, Poseidon, Waterworld and more. 

Again, it was a great vacation; I didn't want to leave!  But alas, all good things must come to an end, and on Saturday morning at around 11 AM, we departed the Outer Banks to do the 8-hour roadie back home to Pennsylvania.  Thanks to the rest of the entourage - Sparky, Rocky, Kate, Big Jim, and the Right Honorable Guv'nor Jesse for being a part of this great week!  We're already discussing plans for next year!

Long time no blog...Sorry about that, things have just been incredibly busy.

Anyway, it's hard to believe that 30 years have passed since a scary night in 1977, when heavy storms pounded westcentral PA with torrential downpours and fierce lightning and thunder...and caused the Johnstown Flood of 1977.

I wasn't actually in the flood itself, but remember that night and following day very well. On the evening of July 19, 1977, I was 16 years old, living in my current home in Altoona, and getting ready to watch the Major League Baseball All-Star Game on television. The game was to start at 8, but the heavy storms rolled into the area shortly after 7. I remember the storms because of the heavy rain, and nonstop lightning and thunder, with a lot of frequent close-by lightning strikes. It was scary. My family and I retreated into the basement, where I tried to watch the baseball game on a small black-and-white television through the lightning static. After the game, Channel 6 news came on, and then-anchor Ron Stephenson and weatherman Ron Lorence both reported street flooding problems in Johnstown. We didn't think much of it at that point, as street flooding isn't uncommon when there is heavy rain like we had that night. The storm was starting to let up in the Altoona area at that point, and satisfied that our own basement wasn't flooding, we went to bed thinking all would be okay.

The next day I got up and turned on the television, and Channel 6 was off the air. We heard very little about any flooding until 12 noon, when WVAM radio's daily news talk show at that time, "Two Way Radio," came on, and the show's regular host, (the late) Denny Bixler, had just arrived back from flying over Johnstown in a helicopter. He proceeded to play footage he recorded during the flight, as he narrated and described the devastation he was seeing below him. It was then that we realized that a real disaster had happened only a short distance away.

At that point in time, I used to listen to AM radio a lot, and used to record lots of stuff off the radio, from music to programs and other things. Shortly after I started hearing Denny Bixler's footage, I put a cassette tape into my recorder and started recording it. I ended up recording 14 tapes' worth of footage over the next several weeks. I still have those tapes! (I'm actually in the process of dubbing the tapes off onto better quality cassettes and soon to CD, and will be donating the copies of the recordings to the Johnstown Flood Museum.)

My family wasn't directly affected by the flood, but I had two neighbors at the time who were. One neighbor who lived across the street was the manager of the GeeBee store in Richland, and he was at work the night the flood hit. I have his late wife on tape, calling "Two Way Radio" to ask Denny Bixler if he had flown over Richland and knew how that area had fared. Another elderly lady who lived below me had a daughter who lived in Tanneryville, which got wiped out in the flood. She didn't know for days whether the daughter was alive or dead. About four days later she learned that her daughter had lived, but was rescued from a tree after being washed downstream.

I also remember a few weeks after the flood, travelling on a bus to attend a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game with my uncle, and seeing how the sides of old Route 22 were completely washed away in Cambria County as a result of the torrential rains of July 19-20. 

Although clearly the flood of 1977 was Johnstown's disaster, it was the first time I had ever really been exposed to the realities of what a flood can do.  I had read about other flood disasters in books, but this one was on our back door step, and the horror stories and news reports about it brought this disaster home for me.  The night of that horrendous thunderstorm is one of those occasions in life where I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when it all happened. 

Another Millennium is in the books.  After 4 nights and 3 days of sensory overload that was this past weekend's Millennium Music Conference, here are some reflections of my 2007 conference experience.

First, on a personal level, this was probably the most rewarding Millennium I've attended so far. Inspired by some ideas I heard from one of the panels at last year's conference, I came to this year's Millennium "on a mission" to gather information, ideas and suggestions to plot my own future career course relating to music. Thanks to the panels I sat in on and the folks who allowed me to pick their brains (especially Sherri Mullen, thanks!), I have some substantive directions to further explore. It was an educational weekend.

After enduring a series of last-minute mishaps on Thursday afternoon (putting an elbow through my glass storm door window at home, my windshield wiper assembly freezing up, temporarily losing my car key in the parking lot of the Huntingdon Dollar General, and surviving the white knuckle ride that was parts of Routes 11/15 heading down the homestretch to Camp Hill), I arrived at the Radisson early Thursday evening. (Thanks to my hotel room decoration committee, Rachel and Robin from Pennsylvania Musician, for the "18 bottles (cans) of beer on the wall" motif; aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and on ice, great for the taste buds after my road trip!)

In spite of reported bad driving conditions in downtown Harrisburg, I headed to Ceolta's Irish Pub Thursday night for my first showcase. The snowstorm impacted this showcase; two of the scheduled bands cancelled, and a third, Milkshake Jones, had to operate as an acoustic duo with two members missing. (John Micek and Mike Fox made it work, and the tunes sounded good!) New Jersey's Causeway did somehow manage to make it there (by avoiding the eastern PA interstate system). The pleasant surprise of the evening was Holis showing up to fill in. Even just for a "practice run" for their Radisson showcase the following night, these guys kicked ass! Thanks for the CD!

The daytime conference itself was a good time over the three days. Trade show traffic overall looked busier than the past few years, and probably would have been even stronger had the snowstorm not screwed things up. It was cool hanging out with folks I hadn't seen in several months; Crazy John, Jimbo (thanks for the Jager shot, I downed it after munching on mints at the Pennsylvania Musician table, the cold taste sensation was a rush!), my magazine associates Rachel and Robin, Shel, Jim Fetzer, Tina Marie, Paul Autry, Sherri, and the new friends I met as well.

I was glad to see the return of the acoustic stage to the trade show. It gave me a chance to see many more bands and artists whose showcases I would not have been able to attend. Standouts on the acoustic stage for me were the British chaps, The Elevator Band (what a fun crew, they'll probably need months of therapy back home in England to recover from their new Hershey chocolate addictions), Stone Soul Foundation, Wink Keziah & Delux Motel, and on Sunday, Nabil Khemir from Tunisia (he played a double-neck guitar and lute; his impromptu jam with conference trade show mainstay Fredrico on percussion was an unexpected treat!).

Friday night, I split time between the Radisson and Gullifty's. At the Radisson I saw Goat, Keaton Simons (I definitely liked, picture a Stevie Ray Vaughan engine dropped into a Dave Matthews Band chassis and you'll get a rough idea what his sound was about), Porter Block, Incredible Rubber Band (I'm a sucker for funky grooves, these guys got 'em!), and The April Skies (plagued by technical snafus which were unfortunate; I kept in mind, though, that the production crews throughout this conference had to deal with multiple bands each night, including many they have never worked with before, each with their own idiosyncrasies and requirements...that and the inevitable wear and tear on gear brought on by all the heavy usage. Some technical snafus were likely inevitable.). I arrived at Gullifty's in time to see Kingsfoil and Ledbetter Heights; both represented well, and despite the roads, the attendance there was strong.

On Saturday night, I split the evening between the Radisson and downtown. At Radisson I saw Ergo Sum, the Josh Thompson Band and WITCHES IN (FREAKIN') BIKINIS!!! I was very impressed with Witches, not just the eye candy aspect, but their overall presentation and show...interesting musical blend of 60's-styled girl-group and surf, and choreographed dance moves and theatrics that suggested Rocky Horror meeting the Rockettes! I thoroughly enjoyed them. After watching a few songs from the next band, The Hint, I then headed downtown to Zembie's, where I saw Wisconsin's Sunspot and got my first look at The Illuminati (strong, passionate performance; you could tell these guys were feeling it). Sold by their sets on the trade show acoustic stage, I then headed to Molly Brannigan's to see The Elevator Band's set; I was glad to see their acoustic sets at the trade show, because their official showcase performance was delayed and marred by technical problems.  Once they did get rolling, though, it was good stuff!  I then finished the night at Kokomo's, where I got my first look at C.C.L. I liked these guys as well; good, feisty funky rock, and hot musicianship!

Sunday, I stayed for the entire twelve-band Radisson finale. It was again cool to see the youth movement recognized at Millennium, with Pink Yard Flamingos and Black Plaid kicking off the night. I thought all the bands here represented well; standouts for me included Kheris (interesting, prog-geared sound), Pistola Amore (RAWKED!), Condition K (these guys sound like they're getting heavier, I like!), 40 Acres (fast-firing, high-powered rock'n'roll), A Utopian Skyline (intriguing, imaginative, and unpredictable), and 7th Layer (I don't get to witness this type of music much, but these guys do it well; lively show, coordinated rhymes and dialogue, lots of action, and very crowd friendly). Then it was the two-and-a-half-hour roadtrip back home, with numerous Sheetz coffee pit stops lined up along the way...

Again, thanks to John Harris for again putting this shindig on; it was again one of the highlights of my year. In spite of the snowstorm-related problems, it was a very good weekend.  (Watch for photos from my conference experience in the March issue of Pennsylvania Musician, on Rockpage (www.rockpage.net), and on Q94's website, www.wbxq.com.)

Inspired by a session of reminiscing with an area musician recently, I decided to blog about one of the greatest radio programs in the history of Altoona radio, WFBG's "All Night Album Rock" (1975-1986). It's very likely I wouldn't be doing the stuff I currently do in Pennsylvania Musician, on Q94's "Backyard Rocker" or "Closet Chronicles," or checking out the local music scene (perhaps even being interested in the local music scene) had it not been for this radio show sowing the seeds back in the day.

For those too young to remember, "All Night Album Rock" happened at a time when AM radio still rocked, and radio still mattered in turning people on to cutting edge new rock. Current-day "Frogman" Steve Kelsey started the show in 1975 quite by accident, just bringing in some albums from home to play on the air during his part-time overnight gig on WFBG-AM one Friday night. In between the current hits of the day, Steve would play album deep cuts by Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath and others. It caught on. People started calling to request more album deep cuts, and suddenly Steve was playing album rock every Friday and Saturday night from midnight to 5 AM - thus the show's name, "All Night Album Rock."

Station management left him continue to do it, and along the way, Steve added some features that would become staples of the show - the "Battle of the Bands" and the "Instant Request Contest." The "Battle of the Bands" would pit the heavy-hitter bands of the day against each other, with the listeners voting and determining the outcome. These battles mattered, too - on Monday morning on the bridge or portico at Altoona Area High School, while the athletes and jocks would discuss who Altoona High's football team beat or lost to the previous weekend, other kids like me were discussing the ramifications of AC/DC's epic victory over Led Zeppelin in the "Battle of the Bands," or how a rookie band called Scorpions pulled the upset win over Aerosmith.

In the "Instant Request Contest," Steve would ask musical trivia questions, and assign point values to the questions on a difficulty scale of 2 to 10. Contestants would accumulate points through the course of the month, and each monthly winner won record albums. This was individual competition of the highest order, and like the "Battle of the Bands," the "Instant Request Contest" determined bragging rights in school hallways for those who knew their music trivia. (Enter yours truly, I won all the marbles for the year in 1980.)

For many of us who got hooked on the show - yours truly included - "All Night Album Rock" was the centerpiece of the weekend. A lot of us didn't go out and party on Friday or Saturday nights while in high school - we stayed at home and rested up or studied up on musical trivia so we could partake in "All Night Album Rock" from midnight to 5 AM. It was close to a religion! I actually used to set up shop in the kitchen (where the telephone was located) at around 11:30 PM, with trivia books and notes scattered on the kitchen table, stat sheets from the "Battle of the Bands" (I kept close records of all this stuff), and a "breakfast of champions" consisting of sardines, crackers and Pepsi. (This was a 'sport' I did well in, and it took preparation!)

Perhaps most importantly, "All Night Album Rock" broke new band names to listeners years before they broke nationally. Altoona listeners were hearing of such bands as Judas Priest, Scorpions, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden and Metallica on "All Night Album Rock" several years before the rest of the country did.  And as the show turned the corner into the 80's, and the hair-band movement started to become big, "All Night Album Rock" was playing bands like Bon Jovi, Poison, Cinderella, Ratt and Dokken at least a year or two before these names caught on nationally.  We even ushered in the thrash/speed metal movement, playing names like Anthrax, Metallica and Slayer before they were fashionable.  This show was ahead of the curve!

"All Night Album Rock" also played local music. Area favorites such as The Front, XL, Cut The Mustard and Shockzone received airplay on the program early on, and as the 80's progressed, such bands as Black Angel, Slammer, Bashful, Blytz (future Thin Ice) and Tommi-Gunn found regular airplay on "All Night Album Rock." At around that time, the mid-80's, a rookie radio guy named Jim Price (!) began co-hosting the program with the guy Steve Kelsey passed the show on to, Jay Randyll. I started doing an album review feature called "The Final Cut," and started reviewing local band shows on a feature called "From Beneath the Bar" (a prequel to my eventual column in Pennsylvania Musician; the feature was actually inspired by a regular column by writer Xavier Russell called "View from the Bar" in the British metal mag Kerrang!).

I could go on and on about "All Night Album Rock;" it was a special radio program that happened at a special period in time. It had a big impact on turning people on to new rock, and helped to sow the seeds for a lot of area musicians and current area music fans.

Through the years after the show's cancellation in September, 1986, I've pondered how long the show might have survived had it not been cancelled, as well as whether such a program could succeed today.  The show was cancelled because as the winds of change were starting to show AM radio's popularity on the decline and FM radio's popularity rising, station management decided to 'tighten up' their hit music format, and "All Night Album Rock" didn't fit into their master plan.  Although Jay Randyll and I vehemently protested the decision, it stood, and the show's run was over.  Given FM radio's increasing popularity, and the eventual changes in music as the 90's began, I'm not sure that "All Night Album Rock" would have survived much longer anyway.  Nowadays, I don't think this show would have the impact it had back in the 70's and 80's, when radio was the sole source for people finding out about new bands.  The proliferation of the Internet, downloadable music, and the diversifying of rock music itself all would make "All Night Album Rock" almost obsolete in this day and age.  But for its time, it was a special show that I fondly remember and was proud to be a part of.  And I still have some tapes of the show, which I break out and listen to once in a blue moon...

...Was about 700 more steps than yours truly could handle on a seasonal November Sunday afternoon.

For the past two years, I had been planning an assault on the Thousand Steps Trail, located along Route 22 just west of Mount Union.  The trail is exactly what is advertised - a thousand stone steps directly up a mountainside.  The trail was first created in 1936, so quarry workers could more directly ascend the mountain to get to the ganister rock quarries where they worked.

I figured this would be a challenging hike, essentially a mile-long staircase up a mountain.  The closest thing I could compare it to would be Altoona's Horseshoe Curve staircase, except multiply it by about 100 if not more.  I had been walking regularly, and figured I'd be in shape to tackle this trail.  Plus, there were periodic points along the climb where you could stop and rest along the way; I planned to use those and pace myself for this uphill workout.

Technically, I probably could have made the entire 1,000 steps, but I threw in the towel after 300.  Not that I was tired and couldn't handle the climb; but the height itself got to me a little bit.  The steps are stone, and there are lots of rocks around.  But no railings.  I got a little nervous at the prospect of taking a misstep and suddenly toppling down the stone steps.  Also playing into this decision was that I had begun the climb in late afternoon, and as the total hike to the top of the mountain took an hour, I faced the prospect of coming back down the mountainside as it was starting to get dark, increasing the danger of taking a wrong step.  So I broke off the climb at 300.  I'll tackle this climb again sometime down the road, but this time I'll have a walking stick to help brace me in the event of such a misstep.  I was a little too nervous to go through with the whole climb this day.

My hiking journey didn't end there, though.  There are several horizontal trails going horizontally along the mountain, where narrow-gauge railroad track switchbacks used to exist to enable trains to make their way up the hillside.  One of these former switchback rail corridors is now the Link Trail, and it intersects with the Thousand Steps Trail a short distance up the mountainside.  On my way back down the hill, I decided to do some hiking along this trail, which is part of the Mid State Trail.  With most of the leaves now off the trees, you could see clearly down the hillside and see views of the Juniata River and the Norfolk Southern mainline railroad tracks from various points along this trail.  I hiked the better part of a mile along this trail westward and back.  It was just starting to get dark as I arrived back at the Thousand Steps Trail and made the rest of my way back downward to the bottom.

So while I didn't achieve exactly what I had set out to accomplish on this hike, it was still an interesting hike and workout.  And after hiking the 300 steps that I did on the Thousand Steps Trail, it occurred to me that anybody who had to climb those steps to get to and from work every day probably had hearts of steel and leg muscles to match!

I didn't quite make the whole thousand steps of the trail this day...but I will be back!