Doug Hayden live online

For fans of the latest hottest Insanity Island, one of its co-creators, Doug Hayden, will be live on the air this weekend, doing traffic reports Sunday evening, June 22nd, 2014, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., as follows:

* On the air in Atlanta on WSB 95.5 FM / 750 AM
* Online at http://www.wsbradio.com
* Via Sirius Satellite Radio 134 (reporting Atlanta traffic) and 136 (reporting Orlando traffic)

Some of you may have heard of the unexpected passing of legendary WSB traffic reporter Captain Herb Emory passed away of a "massive heart attack" after helping victims of a traffic accident near where he lived.  WSB is a legend in Atlanta, it is known for radio legend Neal Boortz among other huge personalities, who came out of his recent retirement to remember Captain Herb on the air with WSB. 

This same station – WSB – is the station that has asked Doug to step in this weekend, into the role once held by Captain Herb.

Some of my friends have told me that I should be on the radio, and I’ve worked on occassion as a mobile DJ.  But to my friends who have complimented me on the quality of my speaking voice over the years, I’ve often said thank you, but you should hear my cousin Doug, he is much better than I, and has actually worked on the radio before.  So to those who have heard me say that – this is my cousin Doug that I’m talking about, tune in this weekend to http://www.wsbradio.com.

“We sacrificed a lot for this country …. don’t take it for granted.”

Ten years ago I attended the grand opening of the National World War II Memorial in Washington, DC.  I attended a “canteen” in the morning hosted by John Cosgrove, and then attended the formal opening ceremonies, followed by the opening of the memorial itself. While there, I watched as two World War II veterans as they met each other for the first time: Bob Wallace, and Gordie Eaves, both double-amputees as a result of their landing at Normandy in 1944.

I took the first photo of them (below) at 5:36 p.m.

The Washington Post interviewed them for an article that was published the next day. I met them afterwards and took the second picture (below) at 5:46 p.m in the evening.

In the words of Gordie: “I was in the ETO theatre as a Medic in the Infantry, across northern France into Germany/ Landed at Omaha beach at the same spot that Bob did on ‘D’ Day but much later on.”

The following paragraphs are what I wrote at the time about what happened next.

Right after I took this picture was a moment I’ll never forget. Gordie reached out to me and took my right hand, and pulled me in a bit closer. He and Bob both looked at me, and Gordie spoke, and with the most disarming frankness I think I’ve ever experienced, he said “We sacrificed a lot for this country. We won’t live much longer. It’s yours now”.

I was floored. I looked at them both, and Bob was looking just as intently at me as Gordie was. It was as if these two were completely like-minded even though they had just met fifteen minutes earlier.

Gordie continued about our country, and said something like “Don’t take it for granted. Take good care of it.”

I was speechless. And I’m never speechless. (You can probably get a sense of that from all my droning on within this web page.)

I didn’t know what to say, but I eventually coughed up a “yes, sir, I will, sir.”

I’ll never forget that moment as long as I live.

Thank you, Gordie and Bob.

I took dozens of photos that day and posted them all, along with a narrative of the day’s events, online at this web page:

National World War II Memorial
Dedication Weekend
May 2004

At that page you’ll see photos of many events, including pics of Doc Scantlin and Chou Chou, who performed that weekend.

Bob was from Arkansas, and Gordie lived in Florida. I stayed in touch with them in the years that followed. Bob passed away a few years later, and Gordie and I exchanged sorrowful notes about it.  Gordie passed away in 2007.

But their legacies live on, and I’ll never forget that day, nor Gordie’s words, which clearly spoke for them both:

“We sacrificed a lot for this country. We won’t live much longer. It’s yours now. Don’t take it for granted. Take good care of it.”

Conference in Williamsburg, Sqoop, and Big Data Connectors

Yesterday  – April 24, 2014 – I had the privilege of presenting at the Virginia Oracle User Group (VOUG) annual Oracle Conference on the James, or OCOJ for short.  The “James” is the James River right there in Williamsburg, Virginia.  I promised my audience I would publish the Power Point slides, so here they are:

Yesterday could not have been a more glorious day. The Doubletree Hotel in Williamsburg is really a conference center, with a variety of beautiful meeting rooms and great skylights and large glass walls.  The room in which I presented was unusual in that it had one door that led directly outside.  The hotel propped it open and the beautiful air flowed it, it was remarkably refreshing.  I particularly enjoyed it, given the many snow days we’ve had this past winter and even into the spring.  The air was fresh and the temperatures just perfect, what a great day.

I was definitely in with some illustrious company – other presenters throughout the day included Mary Gable, David Mann, Craig Shallahammer, Greg Mays, Scott Poteet, Bill Myers, and Oracle’s own Bob Bunting as well as Robert Freeman.  The legendary Tom Kyte (of Ask Tom fame) was the keynote speaker.  Brilliant talent was on display everywhere.

For more information about VOUG, visit their website here:  http://www.voug.org.

Here’s a copy of the full conference agenda:  VOUG OCOJ Conference Agenda.

Thanks to one of my great audience members who took the photo.  And a huge thanks to Linda Hoover for making the entire event possible – thank you Linda!

Margriet Sjoerdsma: Tribute to Eva Cassidy featuring Dan Cassidy

Eva Cassidy fans, listen up – there’s something interesting going on in The Netherlands, it’s an Eva Cassidy tribute CD and tour by Dutch vocalist Margriet Sjoerdsma.  And there’s an important twist with the live tour:  it features brilliant violinist Dan Cassidy, Eva’s brother.  Check it out here:

I just learned of this tour this morning.  If you happen to be in Rotterdam tonight, you can check out their live performance at the Lantaren/Venster theater.

Or tomorrow night at the Junushoff.

Margriet’s official website lists upcoming shows here.

Here’s some more video, this was taken during the making of the CD:

Dutch news site Muziek Theater Paradijs published an article on April 15 about the tour:
* Here is the original Dutch version of the article
* Here is the same article translated into English using Google Translate.

Margriet does a great job and the stamp of approval from Dan Cassidy, a brilliantly talented musician in his own right, is a strong endorsement.  Some of you may recall that Dan Cassidy performed in the past with the legendary Eva, Larry Melton, Todd Bauchspies, and others.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted something here at Skere9, but it’s not for lack of material, it’s just really busy here!

Best wishes to you all for a meaningful Good Friday.

Beware the seating chart at the Strathmore in Rockville, MD

This is a bit of an unusual blog post for me.  I generally use this space to highlight brilliant talent and showcase creative genius.

But I’m going to use this forum warn any potential visitors about the online seating chart for The Music Center at the Strathmore, which is located in Rockville, MD.  The venue is generally great and if you have an unobstructed view, you’ll be fine.  However, a few seats have partial visual obstructions, and these are not indicated on the online seating chart.  So depending on where you sit, if you’re not careful, your vision of the show may be blocked rather significantly.

I learned this fact the hard way this past December, when I attended a performance of the Three Irish Tenors.  Four of us attended, and we purchasd the tickets in two separate blocks.  One of the seats was Box 23, Seat 1.