As the reporter said, "Weather stories suck when there's no weather." Now, despite the photo (by Mike Taylor) showing plenty of weather, she made that comment a couple of hours into the search for the story. It was the first weekday after the biggest snowfall the area has seen, and the housecats thought Katie Nordeen and I could turn another two-story, two live shots for the day. It would have been the third time within two weeks. Two angles on a day of bad weather. This time they wanted one on road conditions and how the city of Greensboro was handling them, and the second one was to be on what does a homeowner do when their 80 foot trees are supporting the heft of wet snow. But it was not to be today. Why? The interstates, state roads, and primary roads in the county were dry from some outstanding work by the NCDOT and the city of Greensboro, and all that was left was some residential streets. But for the most part, they were very driveable. And the tree story? After driving around several Greensboro neighborhoods, the best we could find were a few branches that had snapped and fallen into yards, damaging nothing. It looked a lot like the photo above. We could barely find any people outside.  Fortunately we have a smart guy at the helm in Kevin Daniels, fresh off a vacation in the Carribbean. We told him how the original story ideas were melting away, and he made the right call. The decision? Cut the tree story, change the road story into a VOSOT, and the reporter package is now about the people at the Piedmont Triad International airport who have been inconvenienced by the snow.

The best part of that is that the story was already shot by colleague, Stewart Pittman, who also was just off a Christmas break, but not as fresh off his vacation as Kevin Daniels. Stewart was called in to do on-camera live shots for the morning show on three hours of sleep. Poor guy. I can only imagine the dizzying stupor he must have been in gathering that stuff. Nevertheless, we got the producers what they needed, and we felt better for not having to slam so much together, and surely Stewart felt better going home well before he expected.

A Taste of Home

I grew up in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and 21 times I rode the earth around the sun from up there. And while tilted away from our star, the climate was mean. Temperatures that would make you shatter like a poorly hung glass Christmas ornament if you got struck by the door getting on the transit bus. When you are annually surrounded by that kind of atmosphere, you not only get used to it, but you can actually enjoy it. At least the snow anyway. It is a way of life after all. Most Winter games and other activities were created in the North Star State. After living in the South the last 16 years, I have been spoiled when it comes to Winters. In my former life, sub-zero temperatures were expected, and, while cursed at, they were dealt with.

Here, we don't get that. The coldest it seems to get is in the single digits--with the harshest winds slapping you in the face. What we also don't get down here is a decent snowfall. Even the heartiest Minnesotan would call a four-inch snowfall decent. And while most Minnesotans know how to navigate through their version of Winter, many North Carolinians do not. You could say "can you blame them? Most have little to no experience driving on snow and ice-slicked roads." That may be the case, but I think a lot of drivers either don't have common sense, or don't use it when it comes to navigating a ton and a half of steel over a slick roadway. Most of what I've seen has occurred on the state highways and interstates. I can't say how people behave on the narrower roads with lower speed limits, as I haven't really been on those roads. But, while driving the roads that have speed limits of 55 and above, I've seen many drivers traveling over the posted speed limit--some as much as ten mph over! These people have no imagination. Other things I've seen that grind my gears is people who drive in this kind of weather when it is approaching dusk and they don't have any lights on, nor do they use any turn signals when changing lanes, and they tailgate. People like that will drive that way until they are involved in a crash, and maybe then they will change their behaviors to more safer ones.
Good thing North Carolina doesn't see Minnesota weather very often. Or is it?

Living The Dream

In coming up with a name for this blog post, I thought "As Good As It Gets?"might be appropriate, but I thought that was too pessimistic. "Living The Dream" is more fitting as it has been a dream of mine to perform music for people for a long time.

This Fourth of July I played percussion with the Greensboro Concert Band at Grimsley High School in which we played for more than two hours, including music to accompany a wonderful fireworks show. During this performance, I was thinking about what it was I was doing, how the person I most admire is doing the same thing, although on a different level, and the feelings those thoughts gave me.

Since it's release in January, 1976, Peter Frampton's best-selling album, (and the best-selling album of the year) "Frampton Comes Alive" was the catalyst in getting my dream started. When I heard that live album--especially the track, "Do You Feel Like We Do", I was hooked. Not only did I love the band's ability to rock, but they way the band connected to the audience was electric and powerfully magical for me. Every time I listened to that track, I would pick up more details of the performance and want to be on that stage with the band. Specifically, I wanted to be the drummer, keeping the steady pulse for the rest of the band to color the performance.

Through the years, I kept alive that drive to perform, but Frampton would not be the guide. A few years later, in 1980, I was listening to the radio (as I did a lot.) I heard "Tom Sawyer" by Rush, and was hooked on a new band. Peter Frampton and his band gave me the spark, but it would be drummer and lyricist, Neil Peart (pronounced, Peert), and his band who would guide me from that point on.

Everyone has someone they greatly admire, and may even like to live vicariously through. Neil Peart is that person for me. In the late 1990's, when he made an instructional drum video, he addressed those who wish to live in the limelight as a rock star, saying not to try and shoot right for the top, rather, begin by performing at the local level. I thought that was good, and if I got good enough, and got the courage to believe I could make a living at it, it would eventually work.

I have been performing at the local level since I heard Frampton's live performance and was moved to play the drums. I have performed with concert bands, orchestras, and jazz groups for the last 33 years, and I am having a blast. Ever since hearing "Do You Feel Like We Do", I have wanted to be on stage playing the drums, and entertaining the audience. Since I lacked the confidence of having the ability, and the courage to save enough money, go out, buy a set of drums, and become good enough to be in a rock band, I settled for performing at the local level, with music that has more wide appeal than my taste in rock music.

So during the performance of the fourth of July celebration, I thought about how I had set up all these percussion instruments, played them, and was getting a charge out of it, I also thought about how wonderful it was to have my idol doing the same thing at his level. He is currently on tour with his band. Still doing what they love for more than 36 years! Those warm feelings gave me a charge to make sure I was playing my best and to get the greatest satisfaction out of doing it. It didn't matter to me that I wasn't in a rock band, I was living the dream.