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THANKS FOR LETTING ME SAY GOODBYE
... by Vince Daniels
February 27,
2006
Somebody once
wrote that "the beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are
untidy." It seemed fitting that this very painful process for me
would begin and end in the rain. Most of the time, I like the
rain. When we haven't had any in awhile, its a nice thing to wake
up to in the middle of the night. There are moments however when rain
depresses me. For example, the morning of November 10th. How could I
ever forget that day.
It was a Thursday, the day that I worked over at W.P.M.D. For five
years I've been an instructional aide there. I always looked forward to
that job. In fact, it never felt like a job to me. I love radio
production and any chance that I had to help a student overcome what
seemed like an obsticle to them, gave me a sense of fulfillment. It
rained so hard that I stopped in at Burger King on my way to work to
warm myself with a cup of coffee. Sitting there, I knew this feeling
did'nt just come from out of nowhere, but on this dreary downpour day,
somehow I did'nt care anymore.
I thought of how since August I had known about an opportunity to bring
my radio show to a new station. A station that airs actual commercials.
A station that has a listening audience of over 10,000 during the hours
I would be on. I knew they wanted my show on Saturday, the day I do the
same show at W.P.M.D. For months I wondered how I could be in two
places and do two shows in one day. I tried desperatly to make that
happen. After all, how do I just up and leave a place that has been
home and has kept its doors open to me for 25 years?
The
End was near
That morning, over that cup of coffee, it wasn't even a question
anymore. It inevitably came down to a choice, and the choice was
already made. I had to let go; and yet I felt so distant and
dispassionate toward W.P.M.D. that I couldn't figure out if that
process was truly necessary. As I opened my umbrella and got
ready to step outside, I tossed my empty cup in the trash with this
strange sensation that a shoe was about to drop by the end of the day.
My shift was already over. At 1:40 that afternoon, my boss, Craig
Breit motioned for me to come into his office. He asked me to
close the door. It took him a minute or so to collect his
thoughts. We both sat quietly. He began somberly with, "this is
the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I've spent the last 3 days going
back and forth and wrestling with myself over what I should do."
He told me that budget cuts forced him to eliminate one of the
instructional aide positions. Since I worked the least number of
hours a week, mine would be the position to be eliminated effective at
the end of the semester. He knew as well as I that a better
opportunity was awaiting me elsewhere. He knew that much of my hanging
on was out of a sense of not wanting to leave my comfort zone. He
also knew that if I continued to hang on, that in all probability I
would never leave. We both agreed that it was time for me to sprout
wings.
I waited for the rain to stop and then around 8:30 that night I left
town for a planned weekend trip to San Diego. About 45 minutes
into the drive, it started drizzling again, but at that point it was
hard to distinguish the water on my windshield from the tears on my
glasses. The shoe was beginning to drop. Even though it was a mutual
decision, it was now final. To console myself, I would return to
some of the other things Craig said to me just hours before, one of
which was that W.P.M.D.would continue to carry my shows ad infinitum at
thier usual times, as long as I provided him with either past episodes
or new shows produced at the new station. He knew that The Many Moods would be turning 5
years old on January 14th, and he wanted me to stick around long enough
to celebrate that landmark anniversary and also, to use that day to say
goodbye. My boss, and my friend of 25 years said that he wanted to
throw a party in my honor that day. He asked me for a list of
names and said that sometime after Thanksgiving he would start
contacting the people I wanted to invite.
The
Big Announcement
On November 19th, Jay Boatman and I returned for what would be our last
3 regular performance shows before the farewell. We made the
announcement of our move to KCAA and that it would be "sometime" after
our final show. The hardest one for me to do was the last regular
show on December 17th. It would turn out to be my most melancholy
performance because I knew it would be the last one where everything
would follow my regular routine. I usually squeeze all of my
pre-production in the Friday night before. At one point, I was
recording a Christmas song as one of my production elements. That's
when everything caught up to me. Thankfully I was alone.
I had a nice cry in a room that had been a 2nd bedroom to me on and off
since 1981. It's one thing to know that I'm always welcomed to come
back and visit, it's another thing to know that it won't be the
same again. I won't be able to just walk in, throw down my stuff and
stay there for hours as if I own the place. For all intents and
purposes, this was it. After signing off on December 17th, I knew that
the next time I returned, it would be to host a free-for-all party
show. As I said to Jay before we went home for the holidays, I
hoped that I had all the sadness out of my system before the finale. I
was really concerned whether I'd be able to hold it together that day.
That same evening, Mikey Mondavi called in from Georgia. On the air,
over the top of the Christmas song that made me get emotional the night
before, he announced that he was flying out to California to be with us
on January 14th and that he wanted to sit in the main booth to co-host
with me one more time from W.P.M.D. What a great early Christmas
present. This is when it all started making sense to me. By having a
celebration around this farewell, it allowed me to keep my mind off the
sentimentality and to focus instead on the festivity, food and the
people, some of whom like Mikey, I hadn't seen in a long time. This is
also when it started making sense to me the necessity of the process of
letting go.
The weather was nice during the second week of January. I was at the
station on Friday the 13th to do some personal production and to take
advantage of my last hours as much as I could. Later in the evening it
dawned on me that I still needed to clean out my many mailboxes.
Without thinking too much about it, I walked into the lobby, and
quickly scooped all my stuff into a couple of plastic shopping bags.
When I was finished, I ripped my name tags off all my boxes and went
back to finish my production. The forecast called for showers on the
14th, and indeed the sound of wet pavement is what I woke up to on
Saturday morning. This time however, I did'nt start my day depressed.
For once, I was resolved. I was also curious as to who would show
up to my party. I received well wishes from a few who either phoned me
that morning or sent communication to Craig.
Goodbye
means Goodbye
Alumni of W.P.M.D.that were thoughtful enough to send their regrets
included Randy Roubal,
ex-student and old friend of 20 years. Randy now works at a C.H.R. station out in 29
Palms and in fact was on the air himself that afternoon. Also, Rock 50's Mike Stark, Community Awareness Corner's Gayle Parks, Starstyle's Cynthia Brian, the Sports Corner's Jason Tyler and Carlos Madrigal from The W.P.M.D. Nighttime Show, all of
whom are currently on the station; along with two others that wanted to
be there but couldn't, Ed Williams
(frequent guest and host of the former Conflict Theory) and a fellow
nocturnal guy who once had a great Modern Country show and kept me
company on several late nights, Chris
Wyatt. In order to qualify for her health insurance that
month, my Mother had to get her hours in at work, but very much
regretted not being able to be there. My brother, Joe got his dates
mixed up and called me the next day extremely upset and apologetic.
Periodic guest, Phil Ganyon
also admitted to forgetting, and also e-mailed later to express his
heartfelt apologies. My boss at my other job really wanted to be there
too, but told me beforehand that she had a family situation come up;
same with Cerritos College radio and film student, Daniela Moreno who would stop in
every Friday night during her break to say hi to me. Including Friday
the 13th when she came by one more time, but on this occassion to say
goodbye, bless her heart. Tony
the maintenance man also came by. 2 years ago he looked around
the record library and asked if I would make him a C.D.of Barbra
Streisand and Frank Sinatra music. I felt bad that I never got around
to it. This is a man who would open all the doors for me whenever
I needed him to. When I came in that day, I bought him their "Greatest
Hits" and had them gift wrapped as a present for all his kindness over
the years. I'll miss Tony.
I arrived at 12:30 on the afternoon of the 14th. Jay Boatman got
there at 1:00. All that needed to be done was Jay's opening
billboard. We had that recorded and edited within an hour. It was nice
to be able to relax and not feel the usual pressure while we set up the
headphones and seating in the adjoining air studio. Craig arrived at
about 2:00 with all the decorations. Mikey called me at 2:45 to say
that he was at the Norwalk transit station. Jay went to pick him up. At
3:10 I was in my favorite production room with my back turned,
reviewing the elements for the show, when I got a tap on the shoulder.
It was Mikey with a big grin and an even bigger hug for me. Craig
came back to set up what was a nice spread of food and refreshments.
Final
Show Prep
At around 3:25 Jay, Mikey and myself went into the conference room to
discuss what we needed to say in the opening minutes of the show,
scheduled to begin at 4 o'clock. Guests started arriving at 3:40. The
first thing that Richard Vidan
said to me was "sit down and relax before your show. You've
earned it." It was nice to be able to spend 10 minutes sitting
down to talk with him, and his wife, blues singer Zola Moon. It gave me a chance to
sit back and appreciate all that Craig spent the last 90 minutes
putting together. Across from us was a big banner surrounded by
balloons. The banner read, "Goodnight and Good Luck, Vince
Daniels." I grabbed a Dr.Pepper and made myself a couple of roast beef
sandwiches while there was still some food, and took them to the main
air booth where Mikey was already sitting along with his i-pod. Jay was
seated across the glass from us, looking over his notes.
It was 3:59 as I gathered up all my notes and audio one final time in
the final minute before what was supposed to be showtime. Somebody came
into the adjoining studio, where I could overhear Jay's booming voice
saying "nice to meet you, I'm Jay Boatman, Vinnie's
announcer." When I went to go punch up the correct
track on the minidisc containing Jay's billboard opening, I was shocked
to discover that somehow it got erased, or accidentally recorded
over. Whatever the case, I muttered to Mikey that I wasn't going
to allow myself to stress out. I knew that in 15 minutes I could
have a new one edited, since I saved all of Jay's files. I had Cal Walton carry on with his Funkzeum
show, since I had already played about 7
minutes of PSA's along with some dead air while I initially panicked.
Finally, at 4:24, the opening bars of my theme song, "Absolutely
Everybody" would be heard, along with the voice of my announcer saying
to the rapt attention of a packed house, "TODAY, on the Many Moods,WPMD
says goodbye to Vinnie!" What people listening at home would've
heard as my theme ended, was applause. I decided that I wanted the
studio doors to remain opened in order to capture the ambient sound.
Since this was a party show, I wanted those that came to feel free to
roam in and out and to be heard. Upon hearing the applause, Mikey
said "they love ya bud." I also made sure that everyone gave a
hand for "the BEST co-host I would ever have in this history of this
show." He thanked me and said that "in terms of guest rosters and
talent, W.P.M.D.is losing its best talk show." Turning to my
left, I added "and in terms of voices and commercial talent, this
station will be losing one of its best in this gentleman. Thank
you Jay."
Erik Duane,
who along with his wife and small children came to lead the opening
applause, popped in to let everyone know that within days he would be
deployed again awaiting another troop movement into Iraq. He
wanted to thank Mikey and I for allowing him to share in a past
"Soldiers Story" appearance. He also thanked me personally
and said "Vince, you've raised the bar here." Let me add that if you're
interested in receiving Erik's very eye opening and emotional journal
blogs written during this recent tour of duty, send him an e-mail by
clicking here . As he bidded us
farewell, I gave him a salute as he left to spend the quality time he
had remaining, with his family. Jay could be heard over the
screaming voices of Duane's kids saying "Vinnie, I think that plan we
had going into the show is already right out the window." Mikey
would add, "we have no creative department writing our show for us
tonight folks." My Dad stopped by, along with my brother, John
who drove a long haul from Tarzana. He remembered a day almost 25 ago
when he had a radio show at Cerritos College, and believes he is
probably still the only D.J. to play a 17 minute Bob Dylan song,
followed by a Bob Dylan song, followed by another Bob Dylan song.
Sad
to see me go
During a very packed first hour, Garage
Mania hosts Robby Russell
and Nurse Cheril and our
mutual "Funkzeum" friend, Calvin Walton joined the party for a 15
minute appearance that featured Cheril's collection of characters: Mary
Jane, Valerie Val and Little Margie. We also talked about one of our
Saturday traditions of gathering for lunch at the "Chris-n-Pitts" in
Bellflower. There was a Mary Jane moment where she offered to give me a
send off that included a lap dance. Judging from past times that
the 3 of them have been on my show, while Robby is on a roll playing
the straight man and Cheril is getting deeper into character, it was
usually Cal and I that couldn't seem to control our laughter.
This time however, a sad look came over their faces as they looked at
the clock and saw that time was running out. It was a poignant
reminder that while I made the effort to be surrounded by a situation
designed to keep myself from feeling sad; in fact, this situation also
involved friends, and they have feelings too. Put simply, I wasn't the
only one saying goodbye. Since the Fall of '03 when those two shows
came to W.P.M.D. in the time slots preceding mine, I always fed off of
their enthusiasm and love for what they did. We still get together for
ribs over at the Chris-n-Pitts, and we still talk about our love for
radio. But it's not the same as following them on Saturdays. The memory
of those days is something I'll always treasure.
In a segment where I was visited by Anthony
Lopez, friend and host of The
Jazz Joint, my first producer, Melissa
Canchola, and a guy who relieved me to do pre-game shows at 6:45
for 3 football seasons, Darrell
Linderman, Lopez had that look as though he were losing a good
friend. Part of me was very touched by that, but I know that I'll
get together with Tony at the new station or perhaps catch a movie with
him sometime. Melissa on the other hand seemed very content in the
moment, and ended with the same loyalty to the show that she started
with 5 years ago. She enjoyed her time on The Many Moods. Every minute of it;
right up to what she knew was the end. Darrell Linderman on the
other hand refused to accept that this was the end for me at W.P.M.D.
He was quick to point up, "aw, you'll still be around." His words
I'm afraid might echo what a lot of people around the station still
think.
I mentioned the people who bothered to call or write to let me know
that they at least made an effort to come to the party, even if
something precluded them from being there. For those who were
formally invited yet did not make that effort, I must say that I'm
disappointed. You were invited because I held you in high enough
regard that I really wanted to see you one final time. The e-mail
that Mr. Breit sent out said to mark your calendars and that this was a
"Goodbye" party. Well ... goodbye meant goodbye. It meant
that unless I randomly bumped into you somewhere down the road, you
would never see me at Cerritos College again. Besides all that, it
meant that you did'nt get to enjoy the killer cheesecakes that Darrell
brought for me and that I shared with all who came. They were
perhaps the hit of the party! Thank you Darrell; and thank you
Craig for the cheesecake that you brought and for the huge cake that I
did'nt get the chance to cut till I was off the air that night.
Death
of Familiarity
Shortly after we went on the air, a guest arrived that indeed
understands "goodbye." Mikey was talking when I turned around and saw a
man with a beard standing by the door just inside the air booth.
He whispered his first name to me, and that's when I cut Mikey off to
say "oh my God, Russell Friedman
is here." For 4 years Russ had strictly been a phone guest. He is one
of the founders of the Grief
Recovery Institute. This is the first time I would meet him in
person. As a going away gift he brought me autographed
copies of his books, "When Children Grieve" and "The Grief Recovery
Handbook." He looked at me through the glass and told my
listeners straight up, "this is the death of something very familiar to
all of us. You've been coming through our internet speakers and have
been part of our Saturday nights for a lot of years now. After tonight,
we'll still have your reruns, but it won't be the same as having Vinnie
live. It was a great idea to have this party. We needed a place
to share our feelings and simply, to say goodbye to you." While
Friedman acknowledged that I'm moving on to bigger (and broadcast)
venues, he said that Cerritos College and the fact of this studio being
a home to me was also a "connecting point" for listeners and a storage
place of all my energy; and that nothing could take its place.
Limos
and Bodyguards
Waiting impatiently for her time at the mic was my dear friend, Dee Spencer who just the week before
had filled in for me one final time with her Hypnodic Zone, because when I go,
Dee goes too. To my surprise she slipped me a note that said "Baby
doll, I have to run. I'm on limo time." Sure enough, she
and her entourage were ushered in and out in a limousine. She too would
exit W.P.M.D.one last time; but before she did, she took to the mic and
did "da hypnodic" funky rap for one final 30 second hurrah that would
close with her saying, "remember that I cherish you and will always be
your friend. Thank you for those golden opportunities to fill in for
you, and that I love you forever." She sealed it with a kiss and
said, "Hypnodic just wanted to go out for you in style." And she
did. On a day that I was having a party on the radio, Dee did
that everytime she was on W.P.M.D. This was simply an extension of who
she is. I should know, having partied with her on the streets of
downtown Las Vegas, smoking cigars and drinking those tall margaritas
as we did last April when we attended the NAB convention there.
There may never be another show like hers at Cerritos College.
Another act that can't possibly be duplicated belongs to Francis
Sanchez. "The Bubbamaster"
showed up with his bodyguard who also accompanied Bubba on a Many Moods guest appearance a few
years ago. On that show I tried, and with no success to get to
know the real Francis. He stayed in character the entire time. For my
finale, I fully expected the same thing and indeed, the first minute of
our time played out in much the same way . He then thanked me for
helping him and giving him guidance over the years, and suddenly
realized that my minutes on the station were numbered. With an almost
desperate tone in his normally high octane voice, he began picking my
brain on how he might be able to re-prioritize his life to again bring
his first love, radio, back into his routine. What I imparted to him
was that perhaps by listening to old tapes of his past Sounds of the Bubbamaster shows,
this alone might actually encourage him. Whether he does or
whether he doesn't, I got a little closer to the real Francis than I
ever would. As I've often reminded him, I can count the true
W.P.M.D. talent on one hand, and he is definatly one of its fingers.
Whatever you decide to do Bubba, I hope you'll always keep us laughing.
Thanks for coming to my party.
The
Boss has something to say
Thanks to Operations Manager, Dennis
Clare. To keep all of us from catching the flu, he stayed
only 30 seconds; long enough for the Freshtrax
host and the smooth voice of the station to thank me for all my work
and to wish me the best in my new endeavor at K.C.A.A. He feels
the same about The Bubbamaster. I'll always remember what he tells new
students who think they're coming on to be the next Howard Stern.
"Don't concentrate on the things you can't say and do on the
radio." With his arms stretched out, he would continue, "because
the list of things you CAN do outnumber what you can't. Focus on
your limitless possibilities instead." It was pleasure working
with Dennis. I'll miss him a lot.
Dennis' boss and longtime friend Craig
Breit, the station faculty advisor, have a collective "ear" for
what constitutes quality programming. Craig rarely makes appearances on
his own station. For my final bow, he stuck around so that I
could publically thank him for giving me this party. He also wanted to
take the opportunity to say "I don't want your listeners to go through
Vince Daniels withdrawls, this is why we will continue with best of's here on Saturdays for at
least 5 or 6 months, and then after the Summer break, you will always
have a home here certainly on Sundays." Before he left, I wanted Craig
to know how much I will always miss the sense of history that comes
with the building. I spoke of the library in his office of
voluminous biographies; the shelves featuring the who's who of anyone
that matters or mattered in the field of motion pictures, television
and radio. I spoke of the portraits hanging on the walls of the station
that include Buster Keaton, Boris Karloff and W.C. Fields. Craig
included, "and lets not forget you. You're a big part of our
broadcasting history as well here at W.P.M.D. and before that, when we
were K.C.E.B."
A
Variety show to the end
Zola and Richard were on during the 5 o'clock hour. They are two
examples of what made this a stand-out show. They kept it true to form
and proved it's not supposed to be about one topic, as demonstrated
when my brother walked in during their appearance to whisper to me,
"keep it light. Don't they know this is supposed to be a farewell
show?" In their defense, yes, they did know. They were the
first to receive an invitation and in fact, cancelled other plans to be
with me that day. What I did'nt defend was thier position on abortion.
Mikey and I knew they would want to get 'political,' and we
expected no less from them. Somehow the conversation got around
to "a woman's right to do with her body whatever she damn well
pleases," according to Zola. My first inclination was to take my
brothers advice and to keep it light. My mind and heart told me
otherwise. It began when she remarked, "you people always talk
about things that aren't important, like abortion for instance.
Why aren't we talking about the stuff that matters, like health care?"
This question brought me back exactly 5 years to a night in January,
2001 when I deemed the abortion topic to be so important that the
debate became the very first topic on my very first show. I
disagreed with Zola and Richard and gave my reasons. During
the break my Dad was in thier faces saying "Don't call me 'you
people.' I am pro-life and also anti-death penalty and
anti-war." Heated words were exchanged while the microphones were
off that in many ways brought me back to the old house that I grew up
in. Seeing my father defend his beliefs brought it full circle
for me. It was why I created this program. In those years, I
always wish I had a live mic at my disposal. On this day, I did.
Ironically, my Dad did'nt care to continue his argument on the air.
Toward the end of thier 45 minute appearance, Richard thanked me for an
open forum and looked forward to joining me in the new place. He
said, "this is a brilliant concept: a talk show about everything for
absolutely everybody."
This party was also a coming together of two 9AM Monday hosts: past and
present. The current occupant of that time slot, KaRi from The Prime Spot was on her way to
the station and halfway there remembered that she left two concert
tickets back at her house. Upon driving back she got a flat tire
and unfortunately had to call in instead. She wanted Mikey and I to
have those tickets and to come out and celebrate at a club that night.
As she was speaking, I could look to my left and see the man who
formerly had that coveted slot on W.P.M.D., Art Olivier. His show was called The Political Money Trail and this
was one guest that Mikey looked forward to. He and Art are fellow
libertarians. Art used this occassion to make the major announcement of
his bid for California Governor in this November's election and said
"you heard it here first, on the Vince Daniels show." At that, an
excitable Mikey threw his arms up, jumped out of his chair and
exclaimed "ye-e-e-e-s-s!" If you want more info on Art Olivier's
Gubernatorial campaign, go here.
To hear Mikey talk about Art in a recent appearance on the nationally
syndicated "Neal Boortz Show," click here.
Just
talk to me
Nick Nathanson
was waiting in the wings during the announcement, and after Art left,
Nick came on vehemently angry with Jay, Mikey and me that we did not
challenge him on his position concerning our open borders and more
specifically illegal aliens and even more specifically, mexicans that
are illegal aliens. It was particularly heated between Jay and Nick,
with Jay speaking as a Mexican-American and taking more of a view that
it's not the mexicans that are our problem in California. "Hey,
they're the ones that pick the strawberries and do the jobs that white
people won't do," according to the conservative Boatman. The more
he said things along those lines, the angrier that Nathanson would get,
with moments that degenerated into name calling, with Nick saying
"Hey republican!" or "you must be republican, because you won't let me
talk." Mike Altman
joined the discussion saying that Nick only underscores what he's
always known and said concerning this topic. "It's the anger topic of
talk radio." Altman would be my last guest. He was one of my
first guests on my first show 5 years ago. He tied everything
together by saying that what he's always liked about being with me is
that "you and I have a conversation together on the Many Moods and if
somebody happens to be in the other room listening, so be it. I can't
be with them. I can only be with you." He refused to refer to
this as my last show. In his words, "it's just a passage.
My boy is finally graduated from college."
One
Final WPMD Goodnight
The moment came, at about 8:15 when I would thank everybody. At
8:23 I would roll my closing of the Video
Killed the Radio Star instrumental. There is a 16 second
talk-up before the announcer does his closing announcement. It
was Melissa Canchola, who sat quietly most of the night that used up
some of that time and had the last word, and important ones: "Be the
best YOU, you can be." Providing the closing applause, whistling
and shouting "Vinnie Vinnie Vinnie!" were my friends from work.
Thrilled to be around a radio environment and just as scared to be
thrown up to a microphone, George
Rosas was there and so was Paul
Rinaldi along with his decorated guitar. At one point in
the show, he belted out "I've got the Vince Daniels blues" and even had
someone call in from Georgia to comment on how wonderful he was.
Paul does have a very nice singing voice not to mention is a decent
blues guitar player. My assistant manager from work, Brian Taylor was there for the first
half of the show. My immediate supervisor, Sarah Farmer was there the entire
time with her boyfriend, Jeremy.
At 8:24, the show was officially over. Loungin' with Lisa was joined in
progress. There was some lingering in the lobby till about 9 o'clock.
Those that remained were treated by me to a late dinner and, as Craig
Breit often refers to them, "the cadillac of margaritas" across the
street at the "Red Chile" mexican restuarant. It was that and their
chips and salsa that always hooked me in. Paul, Melissa, Sarah,
Jeremy, Mikey and me finally had a chance to unwind. The only way I can
describe the feeling I had sitting there in that big booth with all my
friends was complete bliss. I was very pleased with the turnout and the
entire occassion. Mikey gave us a lot of laughs with his stories from
home. It was always a Saturday night tradition for he and I to get
together at that very restaurant after the show. We wanted to extend
our good times to everyone at the party that was able to join us. My
only regret is that Craig couldn't be there, as he and I shared a lot
of great lunches at the Red Chile over the years.
It's
a long way to the P.T. Cruisers
At 10:30 we returned to the radio station to grab some of the food and
drinks, clean up a little and to let some of the balloons loose. I also
needed to grab my old albums out of the production room and to erase
old things from out of the Digicart player and save them onto a
minidisc for my future use. As I was doing that, everyone else
could be heard in the lobby with Paul strumming his guitar. I was
also finalizing the recordings of the C.D.'s from that show. At one
point, as I was walking back and forth from production room "A" to
production room"B," I felt a lump in my throat and tried to hold back
more tears. The real finality however was about 45 minutes away,
and my friend Sarah knew exactly what she had to do. Sarah Farmer
would play a very important part in my actually exiting W.P.M.D. one
final time. A misting rain was lightly sprinkling outside as I made
several trips to my car to load up a cake, drinks, my big
"Congratuations" balloon and all my albums and discs. I obliviated
myself from the actual number of trips I made back and forth from the
station to my car. I just did'nt want to think about it.
I refused to have a Mary Tyler Moore scene when on her last show, she
was the last to leave the WJM newsroom while everyone sang "It's a long
way to Tipperary." Paul's guitar playing and the background sound
of my friends having a good time did the job for me. This is exactly
how I wanted to remember 11:15pm on January 14th, 2006 with all of us
in the Burnight Center parking lot and only two vehicles remaining,
both 2005 P.T. Cruisers; one, a midnight blue cruiser belonging to me
with Melissa, Mikey and I waiting to take off. The other was Sarah's
purple cruiser with Jeremy and Paul waiting for Sarah. She would
be the one to lock all the doors, turn off the lights and to close the
door behind her. She would be the one to end an era, and perhaps help
me to keep nothing but happy memories, and certainly the memory of a
single day that I know I won't forget, for a very long time to
come. Thanks .
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