Old Friends

Back in my youth, before marraige and kids and when I had time to hit the road whenever and to wherever, I used to follow some bands from New England. One of them, Letters to Cleo (and here), I eventually became friends with, probably because I was the only nut in the early '90s who would drive all day to Boston to catch a show and then drive home afterwards (that's an 800 mile round trip). Anyway, the band members went on in their careers and I ended up not being able to take trips on a whim. The last time I saw any of them was about 10 years ago when they were still together and stopped in town while on tour.

Last month another friend who I got hooked on the band sent out a post with the Kay Hanley's blog. Lo and behold she and Stacy Jones, the drummer, were going to be in town as part of the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus tour - Kay singing backup and Stacy, who produced the Hannah album, in the band. Their sched was tight that weekend to begin with, and mine only left me some time Sunday morning to try and find anybody. Then there was the huge winter storm that weekend which never really got huge but did leave things a mess. Would it be worth it to try to drive downtown on unplowed roads, find a parking spot, and try to find them? I was doubtful.

Still, I really miss these guys. It's not like I exchange holiday cards with them, but for about six years I really did stump promoting them outside of New England. Kay and her now husband Mike dragged me to their apartment after one show so I wouldn't have to drive back that night, and they'd let me stay in rooms if I followed them on tour. I have tried to keep up with all their projects and lives through our friend the internet, so even without the face time all those years I still wanted to let them know they were still in my thoughts. What better way to do it then to brave winter and the odds to find them?

I gotta say, I managed to develop some good "fan" senses during my groupie days. Found their hotel easy enough (this isn't that big a town) and even caught sight of Kay as I showed up from across the street when the tour was clearing out of the hotel and boarding the buses! I tried shouting to her but I'm thinking everyone was having a bad morning. The bus driver gave me a polite cold shoulder telling me that "once the kids get on the bus I'm not allowed to let them off." On a tour that size and that crazy I believe it.

I still wanted to talk and catch up with them and had a few more hours before I had to get ready for work, so I walked to the back of the local arena where the crew's buses and set trucks were parked. Feet wet, I stood in the cold, wind, and snow, directing out-of-town fans to restaurants, talking to crew, homeless men, and the other odd folks you find behind those places and trying to justify to myself and anyone watching why I was standing around at a pre-adolescent setting.

Finally, the buses did come, more waiting, and then the band and singers and dancers started leaving the buses by ones and twos to get ready for the show.

Stacy was the first I got to talk to. Honestly, I didn't know if anyone would remember me. I had hung with them years ago, but in a lot of ways it felt like even longer. That phrase "a lifetime ago" was feeling very real. But Stacy was all, "how've you been," "great to see you, again," "are you going to be around for the show?" Now I was bumming I didn't take the night off work (not that I could have that weekend). Stacy went in to set up. and I waited for Kay.

Kay finally came out with bandmate Jamie (I have no idea what his last name is!) and I called obnoxiously for her to cross through the slush over by me. Not that she could miss the bright orange coat I was wearing in case my truck went off the road (it keeps me safe when I'm doing roadside archeology). She looked tired and suddenly my mind went blank. I had a hundred questions in my mind about how Michael, her husband, was, her kids, her family and friends in Boston, her career, how she like the tour, how she liked working for Disney... Nada. She was sweet enough to ask about my kids and what was new with me - and I really didn't say anything. Maybe it was the cold - I'd been standing around in slush for over an hour. Maybe I geeked our. Don't know, but I did know she needed to get in out of the cold and I had a hell of a ride home (death defying : ) ), so I gave her a hug and told her to be safe and say hi to Mike for me.

Very deflating.

But I'd do it all over again. Seeing people even for a few short minutes every 10 years was 100% good. All the coulda, shoulda, woulda, doesn't outweigh how I would have felt if I hadn't busted a move to even say hi. I think what pain I feel is that these opportunities are so few and far between. Wish they weren't.

On the way back to my car I passed the hotel again. Miley's bus was still there with a small crowd waiting for her and a lone cop standing in the snowbank to keep the order.

Miley working the audience with Kay a few hours later...

Cub Scouts are us.

After nearly 40 years, I have recently reentered the world of Cub Scouting with my son's entry into a local pack and den. Since I figure the boys are going to be involved in this sort of thing for a long time I decided to jump in as an Assistant Den Leader. I chose assistance over actually full fledged den leading because there was already a den leader for my son's den and I'm going to be going through this for a long time. I've seconded guessed that decision a few times.

One of the key points in Cub Scouting is for the boys to have fun. FUN. and MORE FUN! This is something I need to remind myself of a lot. Watching six children who are not my own attempt to hijack a meeting that is going over their head can often lead a leader into forgetting that the meeting is for the kids, not the adults. Order is nice, and important, but to expect constant order is pretty silly. That said, it is also important to keep the meeting on the kids' level and not waste the kids' time.

I'm noticing that having an agenda, and a Plan B for a lot of things is really important. Also important is not trying to do something that you don't have time to do in the hour you're with the kids and parents. Taking home stuff to do or completing a project at the next meeting is OK as long as you have next meetings (lack of meetings is an issue in our den). But it's also important to let the kids have some time to socialize with each other before and after the meeting. Right now it's the dark part of the year and the while the parents want to hibernate the kids are even more wound up from being stuck in school during all the good daylight playtime hours. I suspect that as the Den Leader and I practice our jobs and the days grow longer things will smooth out.

Can't wait.

9-11 time, again.

Having severe OCD issues, this time of year I start reviewing information I've gathered about the the emergency response to the attacks on the Twin Towers. Several of the instructors at the firefighting school I went to in the '90s were from FDNY, and while no one I knew personally was on duty that day several other firefighters and instructors I knew through reputation were and lost their lives. There's a practical side to my obsession (at least I like to think some good can come from it), and that's to analyze who did what where and why. What did the first responding units find? Where were they sent? Why was this unit or that unit parked or tasked or staged wherever? So, I save stories from survivors, newspaper articles about conditions in the building, and try, try, try to find photos taken before the second collapse. The latter has become something of a fools errand.

Google locates scads of sites dedicated to showing that the 9-11 attacks were a home-grown conspiracy. The number is astonishing - I can't imagine the manhours it took to create these sites, not to even go into the postings and responses on fora. It is mindboggling to consider what could have been accomplished had the time and creativity been spent in something a bit more useful.

Fortunately, I did come across at least two sources when I searched "wtc1 'command post.'" One was the McKinsey report for the City of New York which looked closely at response and command issues: http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/mck_report/index.shtml

The other is the compilation of work done by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology: http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/
In addition to what is listed there, Google revealed some PDFed PowerPoint presentations used at different Project meetings. (Research subjects were divided into "projects;" i.e. Project 7 was Occupant Behavior, Egress, and Emergency Communications. There are eight projects to wade through.) Searching through Google using the phrase: "project 7" site:wtc.nist.gov will reveal Project 7's material. There are also presentations from conferences. Most notably one held in 2005 can be found using the search: "wtc" (and/or "towers")site:wtc.nist.gov/WTC_Conf_Sep13-15/session# (#=1-8)

The latter led me to a collection of photos taken by John Labriola. Mr. Labriola was employed by the Port Authority and took photos on his way to work on the 71st floor of WTC1 (the north tower - first one struck, second to collapse). As he evacuated he met firefighters on their way up at around the 35th or so floor and fortunately (IMHO) began taking photos once again. Some of his collection is at the Smithsonian Institution's site: http://americanhistory.si.edu/september11/collection/record.asp?ID=62

Some different shots are posted here: http://tampabaycoalition.homestead.com/files/0911FirstMomentsPics.htm

I'd be remiss in not mentioning the oral interviews conducted by the city that are available from the New York Times': http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/met_WTC_histories_full_01.html
along with recordings of some of the emergency communications.

However, this Port Authority recording from their much maligned repeater holds much more detail than what the city reluctantly released: http://www.thememoryhole.org/911/firefighter-tape.htm

My wife, Colleen, asked my why I do this every year. I told her it was just in case I had to deal with something like it. Why lose all those lessons learned at so high a price?

This rainy September 11 will be spent in honor of the murdered the way I spent that sunny day six years ago. I'm going to ignore the news and play with my kid.