ALIVE, AFTER THE SMOKIES
Well, the two-hour live shoot in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is over. Just like a circus clown, I spent about an hour scraping the TV makeup off my old, tired face.
Sitting backstage at the American Jukebox Theater, staring at my image in the mirror of the dressing room, my mind kinda wandered back to the beginning of my TV life…..42 years ago, in 1964 when I was appearing every week on my nationwide television show, "The Stan Hitchcock Show". Thing is, inside my head I still look the same, but, as the makeup comes off I start seeing all the miles, all the shows, all the songs, all the all-night drives to another concert, and they are all right there on this old picker’s face. But, I guess that’s the way it’s supposed to be. A man’s face is like a road map of where he’s been, and the things he’s done…but, I’ll have to admit I have run off the road several times, been rode hard and put up wet, and every cowboy knows that’s hard on any horse. Yeah, and it’s hard on hillbilly singers too. But, back to the subject, the two hour LIVE television show in Pigeon Forge…..ummmm, now I remember why nobody does live television concerts hardly ever any more. First of all, the logistics and operational challenges of doing a live show are just awesome. There is no safety net in live television, you have to get it right the first time and just keep pushing. We were very pleased with the performance of all the entertainers and musicians and staff at the American Jukebox Theater, and the wonderful audience we had in all the seats for the performers to sing to. Myself, I had a ball cause I got to run out front of the theater and play with the classic cars of the 50’s and meet some of the nicest people you could ever want to meet, and I’m talking about the owners of those cars. You can’t have a salute to the 50’s without the hot rods and classic cars to go with it. Everyone that knows me knows how I love the classic cars of the 40’s and 50’s. Good-guy Gene Murphy, from Johnson City, Tennessee, brought his ’49 Mercury cruiser for me to show to the folks on TV and man it is one cool car. James Dean had one almost like it in "Rebel Without A Cause" when I was in High School and I wore my collar turned up in back for about twenty years after seeing it. Shoot, I thought I was James Dean back in 1954 when I was driving my candy apple red ’49 Chevy with the split manifold and twin straight pipes. Until, I backed up at the drive-in and ran into that carhop with the rootbeer floats. But, that’s another story.
I was very proud of Tiffany Turner, who world-premiered her brand new recording of, "Between The Tears". Alan McLaughlin and Pam Zimmerman produced a great show and the production crew was magnificent. Special thanks to Don Carr who directed the show and called all the camera shots out in the big production truck behind the theater. The big satellite transmitter truck from Crawford Communications that sent the signal up to the satellite in space so that people all over North America could watch it just did a great job.
Thank you, Frank Auman, for letting BlueHighways TV come in and take over your American Jukebox Theater for the week and for always believing in what we are doing. We believe we proved what we always say, "BlueHighways TV is not star-driven, we are talent driven", and the show Saturday night, May 13th, in the beautiful Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, proved that there is great talent all across this country. The gift of making music is a God given talent, and it is intended to be shared for the joy of others.
We wish you Joy, Wellness, Peaceful moments, Love of Music and Families that care for each other. If you have all that, you don’t need anything else. God Bless You.
Your friend,
Stan
stan@bluehighwaystv.com
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