Techie Report - 2 - By Roger McGuinn

Here are some tech gadgets and podcasts that I've been into lately.



I just got Delphi's MiFi hand held XM satellite radio.

It's about the size of an iPod and receives satellite radio without external power or antenna. It also records 5 hours of programming for times when you're not able to pull in the satellite signal. I love it! It's perfect for listening to XM on bike rides or walking. I use it in my office and in the car with an external antenna as well. Great little gadget!



I recently bought two TV tuner cards for my computers, both from ATI. One is for a desktop. The other is a USB 2.0 device that plugs into any computer. I use this with my Dell Inspiron 8200 notebook as kind of a Tivo. I like to record shows and burn them to video CDs to watch in the van. These TV cards are great as free alternatives to the subscription services for TV recording. I was thinking of installing a Linux PVR called MythKnoppix but decided that I didn't want to dedicate my laptop hard drive to Linux or even create a dual boot.




If you would like to play with Linux but don't want to install it on your hard drive, there are over 100 alternatives. I love Knoppix live CDs! FREE Download:



Because my iPod Photo is linked to the Apple G4 Cube that Woz gave me a few years ago, I wanted something to link my iPod Photo to on the road. The iBook G4 12" was my choice. I love this little box! It ships with a mere 256 MB RAM but I've added 1GB additional RAM to give it 1.25 GB thanks to birthday money from Mom.

The way it comes to life from "sleep" is truly amazing. For someone who's worked with Windows laptops all my life, this was a revelation. My Dell Inspiron 8200 takes a few minutes to wake up from "hibernation." The iBook wakes up instantly. It looks so cool too with its white polycarbonate shell. They say it's the stuff they make bullet prof glass out of. iBook




Speaking of the iPod, iTunes
now has the Folk Den in its podcast section. It works with both Windows and Mac platforms. You need to download the latest version 4.9 to get podcasts. This is the easiest way to get them and a great way to subscribe to the Folk Den and have the new songs come into your iTunes podcast folder automatically every month. Click here to Subscribe to the Folk Den iTunes Podcast. It will ask you to open iTunes if you have it or download it if you don't. Don't worry, it's OK to open it.

Here are some of my favorite podcasts: This Week in Tech with Leo Laport, Diggnation w/ Kevin Rose, CommandN,
and The Mac Observer's Mac Geek Gab.

Keep your eye on Kevin Rose. He's a bright enterprising guy. Kevin quit his paying job at the G4 TV network to go out on his own and follow his dream. Kind of reminds me of Woz, Steve Jobs or Bill Gates some 30 years ago.

Techie Report 1 - Why Three GPS Units? By Roger McGuinn

Back in the last century we used a Garmin eMap GPS unit connected to a laptop, running Windows 98 and a map program called Street Atlas 4.0. As the years passed we upgraded the software to Street Atlas 7.0. We tried several subsequent versions of Street Atlas as they came out but they weren't as good as 7.0 because for some reason they had abandoned the Windows desktop structure in favor of some generic one. We loved the way 7.0 worked with keyboard shortcuts and it did everything we needed. It tracked our position on a moving map, told us how far it was to our destination, and talked to us. The way it talked reminded us of our friend Bill's son, Andrew. Andrew talked quite a lot when he was a toddler. The computer talked a lot too and was frequently amusing in its pronunciation of some words like "scenic" which it insisted on pronouncing "cynic." It made funny little mistakes, like telling us to make a right turn onto a road from the middle of a bridge, where the road was 100 feet below us. In spite of these minor shortcomings, we named the GPS / laptop combination "Andrew" and kept him.





Last year we got two new GPS units, "Nancy" and "Bob." Nancy, named after Nancy Drew - the teenage detective, is a Magellan 700 with a built-in 10 GB hard drive containing all the maps of North America. She talks a lot but is usually correct, both in her pronunciation and directions. Bob is a Garmin

GPS 76 CS hand held unit who can't speak. Bob beeps instead, so his nickname is "Beepy Bob." He's capable of showing detailed directions, including turns. We use him mostly as a speedometer which is much more accurate than the one provided by Ford.

Nancy and Bob live on the dashboard. We take them in at night for security reasons. In the morning my job is to get Nancy, Bob and Andrew powered up and running. Nancy comes right to life and Bob is pretty quick, but poor Andrew sometimes takes up to five minutes to wake up. This used to present a problem when he was our only GPS because we would have to wait for Andrew before we could head out. Now we're on the highway in a matter of seconds.

We've become increasingly more dependent upon Nancy. Sometimes I don't even know where I'm going when I'm driving, because Nancy knows. This can be troublesome when a police officer asks you where you're going and you can't come up with a good fast answer, as I found out one afternoon on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The State Troopers wanted to bring their dogs to search our van when I couldn't tell them where we were going. We were profiled for having Florida license plates.

Another great thing about using a GPS is being able to get around traffic snarls. You can leave the main road with complete confidence and you'll never get lost. We love to drive the back roads of America and now we can take more of them than ever thanks to GPS technology.

Our hand held GPS came in handy in London last year when traffic was so backed up during a taxi ride to the BBC that we had to get out and walk. I had marked the location of our hotel on the GPS and when we got to the radio station we realized that our hotel was less than two miles away, even though the taxi ride had been an hour. We were able to enjoy a leisurely walk back to our hotel thanks to our GPS.

I just celebrated my birthday on July 13, and Camilla got me a new GPS. It's a Magellan 760 like Nancy, but has a 20 GB hard drive and many improved features. We named her "Cherry" after Cherry Ames, another fictional sleuth from Camilla's youth. We always name our GPS's because as Camilla says "Things just run better when they have names."

All the best,

Roger

Techie Report - 3- By Roger McGuinn

While in Eugene Oregon we stayed at the King Estates Winery. Director of Sales, Steve Thomson loaned me a book about the founder Ed King Jr. Ed was a friend of Bill Lear, the inventor of the Lear Jet. He told some amazing flying stories. One aviator friend of Ed's ran out of fuel but was able to land his Lear Jet "dead stick" that is without power from over 50 miles away from the airport.

Mr. King was an active pilot for forty years and flew his own jet until age 71. He is very proud to have assisted the Rutan Brothers in accomplishing their dream of circumnavigating the globe by airplane on one tank of fuel. Using King's products exclusively for navigation, flight control and communication, their Voyager aircraft flew around the globe on one tank of fuel in 1986. The King name is proudly emblazoned on the side of the Voyager which now hangs in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.



(Ed King Jr. hand testing his radios)


The King Story

Someone once said that the greatest inventions come from creative, free thinkers who haven't been told that "it couldn't be done" by experts. In a way, this is how King Radio Corporation was born. In 1952 Ed King Jr. fulfilled a lifelong desire by earning his private pilot's license. However, for King a 1943 Kansas State University graduate in electronic engineering, was only the beginning of an interest in aviation that would eventually lead to King Radio Corporation.

Ed, who owned and flew a Beechcraft Bonanza for pleasure, quickly became dissatisfied with the poor quality radio gear offered to the private pilot in the early to mid-50s. The best selling NAV/COMM on the market at that time offered a continuously tuned receiver and only 27 transmit channels, and still priced well over $1000. King knew there had to be a way to build a low cost NAV/COMM that offered the same optional features that the expensive airline equipment provided. However, as a president of his own highly successful electronics company, Communications Accessories Corporation, he just didn't have the time to do anything about it, so it took a back seat to other business interests.

Finally, in 1956 Ed sold Communications Accessories Corporation to Collins Radio and agreed to stay on and manage the company. Between 1956 and 1959 king tried to interest Collins in light aircraft avionics designed with some of the same features as the expensive airline equipment. However, Collins was heavily involved in the growing airline business and couldn't spare the time or manpower to pursue the light aircraft avionics products.

As a result, in 1959 Ed King left Communications Accessories Corporation and formed King Radio Corporation where he designed and handmade the first low cost 90 channel crystal controlled VHF transceiver for light aircraft. That same year he sold five units to private customers for $845 each. Since his model had a lower price and far better performance than comparable radios of its day, Ed had no trouble finding customers and well established agents willing to sell and service his product so Ed set up for "mass" production in an old dairy farmhouse on the outskirts of Kansas City, with production and shipping on the ground floor, engineering and testing on the second floor, and service parts in the attic.

In February 1960, King had 30 employees and production was on the rise. By 1961, King Radio Corporation had moved out of the farmhouse to a plant in Olathe, Kansas, and continued to climb to become a major factor in the light aircraft avionics field. The KY 90 VHF COMM Transceiver soon had the reputation of providing crystal clear communications, and was installed in almost every type of American-made light aircraft, including such famous aircraft builders as Cessna, Piper and Beachcraft. With the success of the KY 90, King quickly introduced compatible navigation receivers and was soon able to offer a complete line of Navigation/Communication.

The creative atmosphere at King Radio has yielded many important firsts. King brought the first all solid-state transceiver for airline use to the market in 1966, the KTR 900: the first digital ADF for general aviation, the KDF 800, in 1969; and the first low cost all solid-state TSO'd VHF NAV/COMM unit, the KX 175, in 1970. The company also pioneered the use of digital frequency synthesizers which replaced bulky crystal banks in NAV/COMM units and allowed the widespread use of 720/200 channel NAV/COMM's in general aviation. King has led the industry in the design of Large Scale Circuits (LSI chips), small chips about 3/32" square which do the same work of literally hundreds of transistors. The subsequent use of LSI technology in various systems has resulted in a significant operational and cost break-through while reducing the size and weight and increasing the reliability of new avionics systems.

In the process of striving to respond to more needs of general aviation and the airlines, King has experienced rapid growth in its 25 years since Ed King hand-built the first King radio. It is estimated that King has invested more in research and development for general aviation electronics than any other company in the industry. While sales were continually increasing, King enlarged its manufacturing facilities in Kansas, Its present headquarters in Olathe, Kansas, plus a facility at nearby Johnson County Industrial Airport and plants in three other cities in Kansas, occupy a total of 557,000 sq. ft. of space. Employment has increased from 30 in 1960 to 2,850 in 1984.

As growth in the general aviation industry began to level off, King embarked on a bold diversification plan. This began with the formation of King Marine Radio Corporation in Clearwater, Florida. From its inception in late 1981, King Marine has grown steadily to establish a firm position in the competitive marine electronics market. In addition, King began an aggressive plan to penetrate the military avionics field. The high value of King products and the strong engineering and technical base were responsible for a number of military contracts, and today military avionics make up an increasingly larger portion of King business.

During this exciting period of growth and diversification, the avionics product lines were constantly being upgraded with the latest technology. In addition, new products were added, bringing King quality to an ever increasing number of light, commercial, and military aircraft. Today King Radio produces a full range of avionics products, including Communication Transceivers, Navigation Receivers, Automatic Direction Finders, Autopilots, Flight Directors, Airborne Radiotelephones, Air Traffic Control Transponders, Compass and Weather Radar Systems. The company's Silver Crown product line is in its fourth generation and is used in light aircraft while the Gold Crown III product line is in its third generation and is designed for turboprops and business jets. In addition, King also produces five products for commercial airlines. These products are currently being used by more than 141 of the world's leading air carriers.

Each year King Radio has improved the high technology base that supports its diverse product offerings. In 1981 a CAD/CAM computer aided design and manufacturing system was added. This system allows King to develop new products quickly and efficiently. The latest in automatic test and manufacturing equipment was purchased regularly, maintaining King's leadership position in manufacturing technology creates a very fertile environment for new product innovation and assures a promising future for King Radio.

In 1982 a Mobile Communications Division was formed to develop a product line for the rapidly expanding Land Mobile Radio field. A team of top professionals was recruited from the industry to utilize King Radio's high technology base for a bold new line of microprocessor based two-way radios.

The King Mobile Division is housed in a 76,000 sq. ft. facility on a 57 acre tract in Lawrence, Kansas. From this facility will evolve the base for all engineering, marketing and manufacturing efforts.

As is typical of most King innovations, these new mobile handheld portable communications units will bring the very latest in features and technology (frequency synthesizers, keyboard programming, channel scanning, liquid crystal displays) down from the highest price levels into the low-to-medium cost range.

When complete, the line will comprise a full range of mobile units, the base stations and portables, in both VHF and UHF to assemble a complete mobile dispatch system using King Land Mobile equipment exclusively.

The use of advanced C-MOS micro-processor design and automated surface -mount component manufacturing techniques will not only enable King to produce a radio that is smaller, lighter and more reliable than other units on the market today, it also affords some rather significant production economies that can be passed on in the form of lower pricing.

In 1983, King Radio opened a 24,000 sq. ft. engineering and manufacturing facility in Singapore. This facility is presently engaged in major sub-contract work, along with the manufacture of VHF 7000 Transceiver and King 8001 Loran C for the marine market. They presently employ 175.

One has to wonder how a company like King Radio could have flourished amid huge conglomerates with almost unlimited resources. The answer is simple--Ed King and his ability to surround himself with employees possessing the same insatiable desire for excellence. Ed has always seen technological achievement and improved used benefits at reasonable cost as the challenge. According to Ed, "If you have highly innovative, reliable products at competitive prices, a lot of your marketing problems are solved."





(Photo By Camilla McGuinn)


We went from Oregon down through California Wine Country (more in Camilla's Roadie Report) and got to San Francisco just in time to appear on the first live TWIT podcast.

TWIT Podcast No. 21.

I talked about my amazing Samson C01U USB condenser mic, recording on my iBook using Audacity the cross platform audio editor, and many other tech related subjects.

Roadie Report 50-The End of 2009 and Beginning of 2010 - by Camilla McGuinn

I woke up one morning and asked Roger, “Why do we have a house?” He smiled, turned on his laptop and showed me the live camera view in our home. “This is why. We love living there when we are there.”

We barely had time to unpack from our European tour before we were driving on the highways up to Minnesota. Skyline had booked six concerts during a two week time period. It gave us a chance to explore the state and experience the Minnesota Fall season.












From Minnesota we drove down to the old Route 66 on a westward trek for concerts in California, Oregon and Washington.




Pepperdine University, Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo, the Montavalo Arts Center provided a nice routing up the coast of California to Washington.

John Dvorak, one of those“Cranky Geeks” , met Roger at our hotel in San Francisco and arranged for us to visit his home while we were in Port Angeles, Washington for Roger's last public concert of 2009.

Our wheels rolled onto the driveway of our long missed Orlando home two weeks before Thanksgiving, but we weren’t through with driving. Roger suggested we spend Thanksgiving on a vacation tour of the South Carolina Low Lands. I replied,”What are you nuts!" Didn’t we just drive over 10,000 miles?”

But the man I love is a man of constant adventure, so we packed the home van (it was retired for home duties after 150,000 miles of musical chores), with 4 bags and 2 friends, Pat and Theresa.

Savannah was our first stop. We arrived just in time for dinner at a wonderful old mansion. Time was a bit of an issue, so the next morning we did something we have never done…we went on a trolley tour of the city. That turned out to be a good plan. The Savannah morning was cold and foggy. It is a town of many streets and parks with a trolley load of history. As soon as we finished absorbing the charm of the moss lined streets, we set the GPS for Charleston.

My memories of Charleston always center on the “Cowboy Bob Show.” My brother and I celebrated our October birthdays there when I was 4 years old. I remember telling “Cowboy Bob,” on live TV “I peed in my pants.” He commented, “Oh what a pretty purple bag you have.” Now you know more about me than you ever wanted to know.

It is time for me to get back to telling current adult stories.

I have always wanted to walk the historical streets of Charleston but when we travel with guitars and concert equipment, city parking is always a problem. This time there was no stress handing the keys to the valet attendant because we had only one guitar with us.

For people who never do “tourist tours,” we were about to break our rule one more time, but this tour was different. I had found a walking pub tour on the Internet while looking at reviews for hotels. A young couple decided that tours with a lot of people were no fun, so they began a pub tour of the city shuffling no more than 16 feet. Besides their vast historical knowledge of Charleston, they introduced us to some tasty micro-brewery beers.

After Charleston, we drove 70 miles to my home town, Beaufort, SC. We dropped our bags at an antebellum mansion and then did it again…another tour geared for the tourist! I left the small coastal town when I was 8 years old so this tour was a historical buggy ride through the streets of the 500 year old town. Three tours within three days, each one totally different and each one making us laugh. It seemed odd to be traveling and not to have a concert to arrange. We were really on a vacation.

Friends from Europe always call me when they are coming to the States. Years of riding the roads, staying in roadside hotels and eating out every meal has made us a little knowledgeable about the intricacies of motor touring in this vast country.

Technology has made this a good time to travel. A GPS will keep you on track and the Internet can help you find a hotel.

Our travel is always plotted carefully, yet with always room for adventure. I must know exactly how long it will take us to get from concert to concert. Once that logistical calculation is made, I incorporate the adventure variables.

We always stop driving just before sunset. The hotel should have a restaurant within walking distance. Around 3pm, I calculate how much further we will drive, then go onto the Internet to find a hotel. Another advantage of having a resident techie – he has always found ways to keep us connected on the road. Right now we are using the Verizon MiFi for our constant connection to the information highway.

When we are working, the chain hotels are a good choice for comfort and safety. What once were the low-end hotels of a chain have been upgraded very nicely.Choosing to stay in the same chain of hotels has the benefit of free nights in the luxury part of the hotel brands. I tell people to always check the surroundings of the hotel. This can easily be done with Google maps or even websites where people write reviews. If there is a pawn shop close by…keep driving.

We look for food that has been consistent and fresh. The fast food drive-thru is not a contender for our dinner, but there are some chains that are consistent with quality. The Darden Chain of restaurants ie. Red Lobster or Olive Garden, The Outback and Ruby Tuesdays always have something on menu that we can eat. I do recommend enjoying meals at off-peak eating times. These family friendly restaurants can get busy and loud. Romantic evenings are saved for special dining enclaves.

There was one other mission for our Thanksgiving vacation. We had to find the perfect recipe for “shrimp grits.” GRITS! Yep grits! I was raised on that ground corn meal and we had friends coming from all over the United States to spend New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day with us.

I planned New Year’s Eve to be a gathering with a New Orleans' 1950s theme. Friend Bill called it Sha-na-na meets Bourbon Street, but at the last minute we reminded folks that beatniks were a 50s fringe group. A lot of people dressed in black and berets walked though our front door. The menu on the Eve was Shrimp Etouffee and various goodies sent straight from Louisiana by The Folk Den Project photographer, John Chiasson.

New Year’s Day menu was from my southern roots- shrimp grits and black eyed peas. There was of course the world famous Davis fruit salad…but that is another story.

A few days before Christmas, Roger stood at the door of my office shifting his weight impatiently while I finished a business telephone call. When I finally hung up, he excitedly told me that he had just received an email from Leo Laporte. Leo was inviting Roger to be on his MacWorld Expo panel on February 12. This was something Roger really wanted to do, but I wasn’t sure how we could work the logistics.

I suggested to Roger that he use Frequent Flyer points to fly to San Francisco. He didn’t like that idea. Flying isn’t much fun anymore and he didn’t want to go alone. We decided to think about it for a while.

Ten minutes later, I opened an email from Tim Castle, the agent who booked Roger for lectures on the Crystal Cruise line during our recent European tour. He mentioned that it was very last minute, so he understood if we didn’t want to take an offer from the Cunard Cruise Line for Roger to give two lectures on the Queen Victoria from New York to San Francisco in January.

WOW! A way to get to San Francisco for the MacWorld Convention! I flew down the hall to tell Roger. I didn’t have to ask if he wanted to do it, the smile on his face told me everything I needed to know.


On January 10th, we boarded the train for New York City, our embarkation point for the Queen Victoria. The weather was freezing as we slipped by the Statue of Liberty in the dark of the night.

Dining on board each each evening was filled with the laughter of four different accents. Table 18 was an international gathering of couples from Scotland, Australia, New York and Florida. Bob, our Scottish mate, admitted to us on the last day that for a moment during our first meal, he thought he was at the wrong table because Ted, the New Yorker, and Roger immediately found common ground in the tech world. They were so excited about finding a fellow techie that their conversation lapsed into the jingle of a wired language. Fortunately the nightly conversations soon covered a large range of topics lasting into the late hours of the evenings.

There were three ports before the Panama Canal. Fort Lauderdale, where I got off to get an extension cord; Grand Cayman, where I got off to buy champagne for a sail away party we were hosting on our spacious balcony; and the colorful streets of Cartagena.

As I write this I’m looking at the coast line of Acapulco. Roger gave two lectures about how folk music took him to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. In four days we will float under the Golden Gate Bridge just in time for Roger to sing a few songs for the Glaucoma Foundation annual fund raiser. (Please get your eyes checked every year! Glaucoma is the leading cause of uncorrectable blindness in the world.)




Since we will have to spend a few days in San Francisco before the MacWorld Convention, I found a condo to rent in the Nob Hill district. We’re looking forward to walking up and down that hill to find food and adventure.

Next BLOG..The Streets of San Francisco!

Roadie Report 80 by Camilla McGuinn - The Sweetheart of the Rodeo - 50 Years Later!

Marty Stuart, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillmans

We woke up early because we were so excited about celebrating my birthday on our porch during this break from touring since September 5th with Chris Hillman, Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" recording.

The idea for our tour came to us while we were sitting in the airport in Buenos Aires, on February 6, 2018. Our conversation centered on Chris and Connie Hillman. They'd had a particularly difficult 2017.

Chris was on the road promoting his new recording "Bidin' My Time" when his producer and our dear friend, Tom Petty, suddenly died. Then on Chris's birthday, they returned to their home after a celebration dinner to find that their house had been caught in the Thomas Fire. All their neighbor's houses were gone but most of theirs was still standing. They had to move out for months.

We wanted to do something special for the Hillmans and our conversation  turned to the recording of the "Sweetheart of the Rodeo." It had been 50 years since Roger and Chris released the recording to a very chilly reception, but over the years the music has risen to the top of  the ranks of appreciated Byrds' recordings.

We began tossing out an idea to each other, "What if we did a couple of dates to celebrate the "Sweetheart" album? Maybe we could get Marty Stuart and The Fabulous Superlatives to join us." Marty with the Superlatives had toured with Roger a couple of years ago and Roger loved every minute of playing with those amazing musicians.

Sound Check- A lot of music, fun and laughter!

Between emails and phone calls, Chris confirmed he was on board. Then it was the matter of seeing if Marty was available. Marty was touring with Chris Stapleton, so his schedule was filled, but he so wanted to do it that he gave the go ahead to start booking a few concert dates.

Roger insisted that his agent, Andrea Sabata from Skyline Music, book the tour because Roger is very particular about  where he plays and how often he will play and travel between concerts. For Andrea, it was a big challenge. She had to work around Marty's schedule and get approval from promoters  in the markets where Marty was playing with Stapelton.

Marty was going to celebrate his 60th birthday during the time frame of this tour and Chris was going to celebrate his 74th. We were thrilled to give musicians who loved playing guitars, the guitar Roger designed, the HD-7 String guitar, as a birthday present. 

Mike Campbell joined the band at the Ace Theater.

Dates in California came together quickly, so we packed the van and hit the road. The Theater at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles was the first of many beautiful theaters to follow. We really just wanted to do a few shows, but as the word spread and the schedule allowed, more dates kept streaming in. Some cites sold out so fast that a second night was added. Los Angeles, Albany, New York City and Clearwater were clamoring for a second show. Promoters and fans were inundating Andrea with requests for the show, but the schedule filled quickly and many were disappointed. Fans were buying airplane tickets from as far away as Europe.

The scramble for dates was intensified because this is a 50 year celebration and the year ends with the last date in Fort Lauderdale,  Florida on Dec 19, 2018. That show is almost sold out, but there are two December concerts  in Florida that haven't sold out yet, but there aren't many seats left. Ponte Verde and the second Clearwater date, which was just added, might have some seats available. I think the last show will be a very emotional moment for the players and the crew, I know it will be for the roadies, me and Connie.

Connie Hillman  had a career in music management for years while Chris was always touring. They had never really toured the way Roger and I do, so we became mentors to these two music pros on how to tour like it's a honeymoon.

After the concerts on the west coast, the Hillman's flew from their home in California to Kansas City and rented a car. We were a caravan through the mid-west and the east coast. Every morning, before we shifted into drive, Roger and Chris would sing into the walkie talkies (provided by"Mr. Techie" - Roger ) the theme from the 50's American Western TV series "Rawhide"

"Rolling, rolling, rolling

Keep them doggies rolling."

On the few days we weren't together I missed seeing Chris and Connie's car in the rear view mirror.

There was one special stop where the Hillman's weren't able to get a room reservation. It was a peaceful place on Lake Toxaway in North Carolina. When we told our destination to the shows monitor engineer, Radar was excited.

"RADAR"

 He grew up in those mountains in NC. Actually, his name is Cody, but he reminded me of the character Radar from the TV series MASH. He was able to get everything done before anyone asked for the problem to be resolved. I used that moniker for him whenever I talked to him. The other smiling fact is that Radar and I celebrate our birthdays on the same day. He was turning 21 and I was turning 13... well that's if you add the two numbers of my age together, and then I'm the same age as Roger. We were both driving home during the break of the tour to celebrate our birthdays on October 22nd.

Our path through Hurricane Michael .
We are
the blue dot.

Connie and I became the roadies for our favorite guitar players. We even joked about making "The Roadie Work Out Video." Lift that guitar, hold that door, drive that van!" We are even  politicking for a badge to wear for driving through the constant rain remnants of hurricane Michael and sleeping in a hotel without electricity that night.

I had booked hotels that could accommodate the 8ft vertical clearance needed for our van and Connie booked the same hotels. We don't drive after 5pm, so the routing took a little work but it was worth it. We got to hotels, checked in, had cocktails and dinner. Connie and I were treated to two old friends telling funny stories about their Rock'n'Roll days and the mischief they got into.

But there was something more special we all talked about... our faith. We drove together, we ate together, we drank together, we introduced them to our friends across the country but most importantly, we prayed together.

It's 2:18 on October 22 and Roger is driving on the Florida Turnpike as I sit in the back of the van. I had finished my accounting for this leg of the tour and saw a blurb about my BLOG. I read it and was horrified to realize that I have written very little since my last birthday tour in 2017. Today is my birthday, again!  I do apologize to my 13 readers. You have been so patient and you are always encouraging me to write more. I don't know how this year passed so quickly.

I guess my tardiness  verifies  the old saying, "Time flies when you're having a good time!"

Brothers!

As iron sharpens iron, so man sharpens man.
 Roger was so privileged to play with the amazing Marty Stuart!

Roadie Report 31 - "The Rolling Thunder Revue"

Roger, Joni and Joan

A few days after we hugged Barry McGuire goodbye, we loaded our van and hit the road. October has always been our favorite time of year to tour. The minute the landscape colors change from Florida’s green and blue to the scarlet kissed trees of the Virginia mountains, we both excitedly reminisce about our favorite autumn stories. Roger’s is about the Fall of 1975, when he joined Bob Dylan’s "Rolling Thunder Revue."
Video From RTR - Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Spring 1975

Roger and Bob Dylan were casually tossing basketballs at Roger’s Carbon Canyon home in Malibu when Bob paused. Holding the ball, he looked out over the ocean view and commented, “I want to do something different.”

“What do you mean?” Roger knew the word “different” from Bob could be a door into the outer limits.

“I don’t know ... something like a circus." Then he tossed the ball toward the basket.

Fall 1975

Roger McGuinn and Band's touring schedule had a two week break, so Roger and Al Hersh, his road manager, headed for the infamous Rock 'n' Roll hotel, The Gramercy Park in New York City. After checking in, they went to Gerde’s Folk City in Greenwich Village. A few drinks and several request later, Roger decided to perform a few songs - the “techie” McGuinn way. He had Al put one of their walkie-talkies on a stool on the stage in front of the microphone. Then he sang one of his favorite sea chanties, “Heave Away Me Johnnies” from his seat at the table into the walkie-talkie he was holding. Once the audience became aware of where the voice in the small box was coming from, they shouted for more. Roger borrowed a guitar and joined his walkie-talkie on stage.

Larry Sloman, a writer from Rolling Stone, was in the audience. After Roger returned to his table, Mr. Sloman boldly introduced himself. Roger was intrigued with the manner of this young reporter but he was also hungry. He invited Larry to join him for dinner in China Town. Over a plate of Moo Goo Gai Pan, Larry mentioned that Dylan was over at the Other End. Roger paid the bill and said, "Let's go find Bob."

The “Other End” was a folk club that had once been called “The Bitter End.” Roger had recorded there years earlier with The Chad Mitchell Trio. The minute they walked in the door, the owner of the club, Paul Colby, recognized Roger and directed him to the back room. Dylan was sitting at a table with Roger’s friend and writing partner, Jacques Levy. Bob and Jacques had their heads close together, talking earnestly over two full brandy sniffers. They both looked up simultaneously, noticed the disheveled long haired shadow in the doorway and shouted, “Roger - we were just talking about you!” They jumped up quickly ... the table and drinks went flying, just like in a old time western movie. Roger ordered another round of drinks for everyone and Bob told him about the show he was planning with a group of folkies from the old days in the Village. He and Jacques wanted Roger to join the revue.

It had been a long day for Roger and he was groggy enough to give a quick answer. “Sorry man ... I’ve got a tour booked.”

The next day, Larry called Roger and asked him, “Do you remember last night? Bob invited you on his tour and you told him that you couldn’t go.” In the light of the morning sun, Roger realized that this was something that he wanted to do and called his agent. He told him to put his band on retainer and to cancel the rest of the tour. He was going to join Bob Dylan’s “Rolling Thunder Revue.”

“Rolling Thunder’s” rehearsals were at Studio Instrument Rentals in mid-town Manhattan and lasted for a few days. The band wanted to have an unusual name. They decided on someplace no one had ever been. They called it Guam. In October, a rag-tag caravan of buses and motor homes hit the road to electrify the Eastern Seaboard.

Dylan led the way in a red Cadillac convertible. He was a modern day Peter Pan taking a band of “flower children” to “Neverland.” His plan was to arrive unannounced in any town that had a stage available, have people give out fliers for a show that night and entertain a bemused but excited audience for hours.

Jacques Levy was the director, Alan Ginsburg and Peter Orlovsky were the poets. Sam Shepard was the screen writer/actor for the film of the tour being produced. Harry Dean Stanton, Sarah Dylan and Joan Baez were actors. Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Joni Mitchell, Bobby Newwirth, T-Bone Burnette, Steven Soles, Ronee Blakely, Rob Stoner, Mick Ronson, David Mansfield and Larry ‘Ratso’ Sloman were all part of the original cast of this traveling band of gypsies and “when no one was looking, McGuinn was there too!”

Mr. Dylan housed the band in resort hotels with hospitality suites for the comfort of everyone. The suite was stocked with a complimentary bar from five in the evening until two in the morning. That will explain a line in this song that Roger and Jacques wrote about the tour. But this song also captures the wonderful mystery and fantasy that can come from knowing a modern day Shakespeare aka Peter Pan.

"Take Me Away" by Roger McGuinn and Jacques Levy

You should have been there when
The time was right for the music to begin
You shoulda been there when
That band of gypsies started rollin' in
You should seen it
You'da swore for sure the circus came to town
There were ladies ridin' bareback
And the mystery man
All painted like a clown
You should seen October feelin'
Like I never felt before
Flashin' up New England skies
Like the fires of the revolutionary war
You shoulda heard the music comin' down
Like the hardest rain that ever fell
Wakin' up in the afternoons
With a hundred lovers feedin' in the same motel

Take me away take me away take me away
Take me away take me away take me away
Take me away take me away take me away
Take me away take me away take me away

To the place where the greatest
Show on earth is playin' high on your highway
You shoulda seen me
I've been told I had a smile upon my face
Slippin' from state to state
Endin' up in a drunken state of grace
It wasn't very long ago
I used to say this kind of life is rough
You shoulda been there
But I can tell you even that was not enough

Take me away take me away take me away
Take me away take me away take me away
Take me away take me away take me away
Take me away take me away take me away


After the concerts, the band often piled into the buses to head out into the dark of the moonlit sky. They went from the “flower children in Neverland” to “pirates in the night.” Black was the color of the clothes and the swashbucklers were riding the waves of the highways. One dark night, the bus diver caught a glimpse of Joan Baez in his rear view mirror, dancing down the aisle of the bus, waving her hand over her head in the style of all the pirates on board. Roger and Jacques crafted the song “Jolly Roger” to recall the spirit of those moments.

Roger needed a few more songs for his next album. He wanted to capture the exhilarating, inspiring, excitement of the tour in the studio, so he tapped Mick Ronson to be his producer. They decided to title the record “Cardiff Rose” after the ship in the song “Jolly Roger.” Ronson brought the band “Guam” into the studio.

Joni Mitchell was habitually writing lyrics in her black and white composition book while the tour bus “Phydeaux” rolled down the highway. One of the songs in that notebook was “Dreamland.” When Roger asked her for a song to record on his album, she gave it to him, but wasn't quiet sure if one line would work for Roger. She smiled when Roger suggested the "folk tradition" of changing lyrics to match the gender of the singer. He would change "Dorothy Lamour sarong” to "an Errol Flynn sarong.” There were so many words in the song, he wondered if anyone would notice the difference or even laugh at the image of Errol Flynn in a sarong.

Roger still needed one more song for his album, so he asked Bob. Generously, Bob gave him the unrecorded opus “Up To Me.” As a personal tribute to both artists, Roger decided to sing the songs in the inimitable styles of the authors because he'd always admired and appreciated the way they both sang.

It was on the “Rolling Thunder Revue” that Ramblin’ Jack Elliot entertained Roger with stories of his adventures touring with his lady Polly. He told him about the times the two of them would put their bags and guitars in the back of a Land Rover and barn storm across America, singing in old vaudeville theaters. Roger was thoroughly enjoying the lack of responsibility of the Revue, but he knew that when it was all over, he would be back at the helm of a band and entourage of people who counted on him for their livelihood. He filed Jack’s stories in the recesses of his mind with the hope that someday, he too could tell stories of love and freedom on the open road.

2007

“The Rolling Thunder Revue” was a moment in the history of a group of troubadours who went to “Neverland.” I wonder if anything like that could ever happen again. Well ... “Tinkerbell” revived because we all sat glued in front of our black and white television sets and said, “I believe, I believe.”

The times - they have changed.

Roadie Report 55 - The End of 2010, Grand Ole Opry 1968 & 2010-by Camilla McGuinn

Today is the first Saturday in the third month of the year 2011. The past month was filled with filing the tax return, reading so many contracts that I felt like I should have gone to law school and unpacking suitcases. I woke up remembering that we always called the last day of the week “creative Saturday.” Our travels have kept us away from my desk for so long, that notes were coming in from the fifteen readers of the BLOG urging me to get back to work. My excuses are now over...it is time to write.

I loaded all the pictures in my camera onto my computer. The pictures remind me of our adventures but while perusing the snapshots, I couldn’t remember how far back to go. There was only one choice. I had to do something I seldom do – I had to read the BLOG. Then I found myself reliving all the stories, so I gave up the idea of writing today and decided just to load the pictures.

Well, it was a short lived decision. Time had come for me to reflect on the last months of 2010 or they would be lost forever in the cobwebs of my mind.




2010 began with Roger sharing stories, aka lectures, on the cruise ship, The Queen Victoria while traversing through the Panama Canal. The work year ended in November with another cruise through the same canal on the Crystal Symphony. The sister ship of the Symphony, the Crystal Serenity, was the first ship that invited Roger to give his lecture, “How Folk Music Took Me to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.” Guests of the Crystal Cruise Line are treated so wonderfully, they will take a voyage whenever their schedules allow. On board, we re-acquainted ourselves with several couples who had sailed with us to Lisbon. It felt like a joyous family reunion. They appreciated the new stories Roger had added to the lectures. He realizes fans love to hear the same songs and stories but really enjoy the slight changes he always tries to add to each concert and lecture.

A highlight of this trip for me was zip-lining through the trees in Caldera, Costa Rica. Less the 30 folks joined the adventure, but I was totally impressed with a couple in their 80s. The wife was the only one of us who had previously experienced the tree zip.

After we were suited in our harnesses, the guide gave us our safety lecture. It was then I began having second thoughts. Especially when he said we had to stop ourselves on some of the lines and we should remember not to hold on to the wire, lest we lose our arm. Yikes…what if I forgot to let go? No one was anxious to be the first Tarzan or Jane. After the 80 year old lady bravely stepped on the box, I gulped and followed. By the end of the eighth zip-line. I was fearless and vowed to fly through the trees any chance I could get.


After the ship docked in San Pedro, California, a car drove us to downtown Los Angeles. Roger had been invited to an evening of conversation as a fund raiser for Live Talks Los Angeles . We were pleasantly surprised by the downtown development of Los Angeles. When we lived there, we never ventured to the city neighborhood. Now it has some wonderful restaurants and is beginning to feel like a place meant for walking. Los Angeles has always been a city for wheels, not for feet.


On the second day of adjusting to solid ground, we boarded AMTRAK's Coast Starlight for San Francisco so we would be close to Pleasanton, the location of the next concert. Our enthusiasm for our January experience in the early 20th century condo we rented was infectious enough to cause two friends to join us in the building to celebrate the Thanksgiving feast. It felt like a college dorm with cooks running between two condo kitchens. The aroma of roasting turkey wafted up the few steps that separated our condos to the scent of the baking pumpkin and apple pies.


The concert at the Pleasanton Theater on the Sunday after Thanksgiving was delightful. The only sad part was watching the people who had hoped to get tickets for the sold out show, leave without hearing the music.


Early in the morning of Nov 29th, we found our compartment on the California Zephyr train to Chicago. Once again, we were re-tracing our January trip, but this time we were spending four days in the windy city. Roger was returning to his alma mater, the OLD TOWN SCHOOL of FOLK MUSIC, for a concert and a fund raiser.

Living in the San Francisco condo for a short time gave us a feeling of being city residents. Even though Chicago is Roger's hometown, we both wanted that city resident feeling again so we decided to rent a condo in Chicago from the same website. The condo was perfectly situated on the 57 floor of a building and even had a Whole Foods Market on the ground floor. The weather was cold and snowing. It gets real cold in Chicago when the wind blows, but we never had to leave the building except to go to work. Our city resident experience became very vertical.

One of the Old Town School guitar instructors invited Roger to come to his class on our day off. The guitars were almost bigger than some of the students. We walked into the classroom while three of the older girls were getting settled in their seats. I began telling them that Roger had so diligently studied and practiced the guitar that when he was 17 years old, he began his professional career. That was 50 years ago. I noticed a blank stare and thought they weren’t comprehending the 50 years part of the story. I explained that 50 is one half of 100. They shook their heads and slightly rolled their eyes.

During the class, Roger played his guitar solo to Eight Miles High. A teacher overheard one of the girls whisper to to her friend, “He’s awesome!” The other replied, “Well he’s been playing for 55 million years!”

The train ride home from Chicago had a change in Washington DC with a 6 hour layover. As we were getting off the train, we met an interesting lady who called herself, Miss Lucas. Someday I might write about that encounter.

The Washington train station is one of my favorite transit places to spend a forced amount of time. The historic train station houses numerous tourist shops and an upscale shopping mall. We spent a delightful afternoon in a lovely restaurant tucked away in a corner of the station.





When people ask Roger to name the guitar players he most admires, Marty Stuart is at the top of the list. Marty plays guitar in the same intricate style of Clarence White and even owns one of Clarence’s guitars that he played in the BYRDS. Marty is a regular on the Grand Ole Opry and has always felt Roger should make a return appearance to bring a peaceful closure to the ill fated BYRDS’ performance in 1968.



1968
CBS records had enough clout to get the rock group the “BYRDS” on the mother radio of country music WSM’s, Grand Ole Opry. The group had broken with the rock tradition and recorded a whole album of country music. It wasn’t the BYRDS first foray into the country sound. They had previously recorded songs in the country vein on “Turn,Turn,Turn, “5D” and “Younger Than Yesterday,” but never devoted an entire album to the genre. Even Roger’s “Mr. Spaceman” embraced the country beat. The “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” album marked the first time a rock group dared to venture wholeheartedly into the country realm.

The live radio format of the “Grand Ole Opry” makes timing a critical element. At rehearsals, stop watches are marking every second. During the afternoon rehearsal of the show, the BYRDS sang two songs from “The Sweetheart of the Rodeo” album. The chosen single, “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” and another tune on the album, a song penned by Country music legend Meryl Haggard, “Sing me Back Home.”

The band was serious about the authenticity of the album and even cut their hair to appease the country audience. The first song the group sang on the live show, “You Ain’t Going Nowhere,” came off without a hitch but it was the second song that got the group blackballed from the Opry. Just before they began the count for the song, Gram Parsons walked up to the microphone and made a very bold statement. “We were suppose to sing a Meryl Haggard song, but my grandma has been listening to the Grand Ole Opry all of her life and I want to sing a song I wrote for her.” With that departure from the script, Gram began singing his song “Hickory Wind.” Roger looked to the side of the stage and the director looked like he had just swallowed something very disagreeable. Skeeter Davis was the only smiling face when they left the stage and walked out of the Ryman auditorium to the trailing echos of, "They'll never be invited back."


December 10, 2010:
The Grand Ole Opry show moved from the Ryman Auditorium to the Grand Ole Opry House in Opryland on March 16, 1974. During this Christmas season, it moved the radio show back to the Ryman because the Rockettes were performing on the Opry House stage. It was a poetic moment on the old Ryman stage when Marty Stuart announced his special guest, Roger McGuinn. They sang “You Ain’t Going Nowhere,”“Turn, Turn, Turn,” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Roger still hasn’t had a chance to sing that sweet Meryl Haggard song, “Sing Me Back Home” at the Opry, but he now sometimes delights audiences with this story and sings the song in his concerts.



Just before Christmas, a film crew from the BBC came to Orlando to interview Roger about the influence of the British invasion on America … the musical invasion. The show should be released in the United Kingdom before Roger’s concert tour there in October 2011.


In January, we were counting our blessings. The Crystal Serenity invited Roger to lecture on the first leg of its world cruise. There was one problem, we had to fly from Orlando to Los Angeles to board the ship, then fly home from Tahiti. We’re not fearful of flying for ourselves, but we have had guitars that didn’t fare to well. Have you seen the video “United Breaks Guitars?” It is not only United Airlines who breaks guitars. One airline promised to treat our luggage with “kid gloves.” Roger has laughingly mentioned that the only kid gloves that were used with his guitar were the ones the baggage crews were wearing when they drove a fork lift through the guitar case.

Our guitar dilemma was solved when author Greg Iles showed up at a Rock Bottom Remainders gig rolling a large guitar case. It immediately caught our attention and within weeks, we had four cases made for Roger’s working axes. We could now fly with a guitar.


We arrived in Los Angeles the day before the ships departure to be available for another BBC interview. The theme for this interview was "guitars" and thanks to our new rolling case, Roger was very happy to have the Roger McGuinn Martin HD7 guitar sitting on his lap. I understand this show will also air before the October 2011 United Kingdom tour.


The Crystal Serenity’s voyage to Tahiti had one stop in Hawaii where we enjoyed lunch with a dear friend. The rest of the time we were on the open ocean until the mountains of Moorea appeared on the early morning horizon.

Roger spent 13 days without checking email or getting telephone calls. Wow … he didn’t even miss it! Maybe I shouldn’t have written that comment - his reputation as a “techie” could be in jeopardy. Oh well, anyone 55 million years old doesn’t really have to worry about his reputation.