Jamey Tucker’s BlogSquat

Has it been 16 years since “Achy Breaky Heart” topped the charts? If you don’t watch Disney Channel you probably won’t know this, but Billy Ray Cyrus is back. He’s as popular now with the Disney audience as he might have been with the country radio audience in 1992.

Now, he’s going to host “Nashville Star”. Cyrus will make the announcement on Leno tonight. The show will tape this summer in Nashville (duh) and BRC will be the man at the mic. I hope he does well. I’ve always liked this show, maybe even as much as “American Idol”.

Oh, and Billy Ray and his daughter Miley will co-host the CMT Music Awards later this year too.

Now, if only the mullet would come back in style.

Thank goodness I wasn’t on the desk when this story came on the feeds:

I dare you not to laugh.

I love radio. From the first time I saw my first episode of WKRP in Cincinnati I wanted to be on the airwaves, spinning records and reading the news wire copy.

Like most teenagers I spent gobs of time listening to the local djs. Back home in Birmingham I remember Joe Rumore playing country. As I got older it was Rick Sisk and Dennis Deason at Q-104 in Gadsden. I even met those guys at a softball game one night. At the time, they were the biggest celebrities I had ever met.

Years later I made it on the air at three or four radio stations. Even though they were small (some am in fact) stations, it was everything I dreamed it would be.

But the reason for this post is not my love-affair with the radio booth, but on the people behind the mics. I don’t know that I have ever met a radio dj personality who wasn’t as nice in person as they seem on the air.

I interviewed Gerry House this morning for a story. He’s the morning man at WSIX-98, the most popular dj in town and certainly one of the biggest names in the business. Gerry is as nice a guy as I’ve met in Nashville. I first met him back in ‘91 or ‘92 when I came to Nashville covering Fan Fair for WJSU-TV40 in Anniston.

I was a one-man band then too, covering fan fair for a couple of days and shooting and producing a 30 minute special on the growth of country music. I met Gerry backstage at one of the shows and asked if I could drop by his studio the next morning and talk to him about how country music was exploding in popularity. He didn’t hesitate, even though I must have looked just like a kid with a camera asking to do a story for the local high school paper.

Same goes for other dj’s I’ve met. Rick and Bubba in Birmingham are both great guys. I met Drake and Zeke from Memphis at a golf tournament. I heard one of them say something to somebody else and I said “hey…I recognize your voice”. Drake said “hey…I recognize your face”.

Maybe this goes to show that in the radio business, the popular djs are the ones who are the same on the air as they are off the air. They put in so many hours on their shows and so many hours at remotes, a phony would be called out quickly. I think it’d be tough for anyone to do like I’ve seen some tv people do, and be something they’re not when the red “on” light is illuminated.

Or, maybe these djs have found a way to be “on” anytime someone is listening.

Anyway, as media people go…the folks in radio seem to be more real than people who work in tv or newspapers. I’ve met some great folks who work for the daily papers in every market, but I’ve also met a number of jerks too. I’ve known some newspaper reporters who seem to despise tv people. Reporters who’ve angrily turned and told my photographer to turn off the camera while he was asking a question, accusing us of trying to steal his interview even though we had already completed our interview and were just getting b-roll.

But I’ve racked my head today trying to think of any radio personality who’s been a jerk and I can’t think of one. Not one!

• Played Solitaire with a real deck of cards?
• Popped popcorn without a microwave?
• Listened to music on an AM-Radio?
• Played a record?
• Adjusted rabbit ears on a television?
• Watched a movie on a VHS tape?
• Drank a Coke in a 6 1/2 oz bottle?
• Played miniature golf?
• Looked at your high school yearbook?
• Taken a drive with no place to go?
• Went all day without a cellphone?
• Went all day without thinking you’ve got to check or send e-mail?
• Watched a good first-run sitcom on network television?
• Blew bubbles that you make yourself out of dishwashing soap and water?
• Climbed a tree?
• Went to a drive-in movie?
• Listened to music on a cassette or 8-track tape?
• Played H-O-R-S-E?
• Made hot chocolate that didn’t come from instant?
• Changed your own oil?
• Wrote a letter to a friend and mailed it with a stamp?
• Paid for a gas fill-up with cash?
• Flew a kite?
• Listened to a “Swap Show” or “Tradin’ Post” on AM Radio?
• Watched a tv show on your local channel when there’s a storm within 100 miles?

I’ve got a secret. I don’t even think my wife knows, or remembers. I’m sure I told her once before.

But I…have…a…diary.

Well, guys don’t call them that. Diaries are for girls with a tiny little key they keep stowed beneath their pillow or in a shoe or an underwear drawer. Guys keep journals. So that’s what I have.

I remember as a senior in high school reading a column from Bob Greene of the Chicago Tribune. It was syndicated in the Birmingham News or Post-Herald and told the story of how he started keeping a daily journal as a high school student. Later, his diary (or at least the parts he didn’t mind other people reading) was published in a book titled “Be True to Your School”.

He wrote in the column, and I remember this like I read it yesterday, that if his house was on fire, the thing he would grab before heading out the door would be his journal. It kept all of his secrets and stories and memories from 12th grade through college through first-jobs and first-marriages. So, on December 1, 1982, I grabbed a college-ruled notebook and started a journal.

Here’s the first two excerpts:

Wed. December 1, 1982
“got up late again went to school and had a prety good day. Everyone said I played a good game last night I’m not letting it go to my head though. had practice for an hour or so. Coach Campbell said he was real proud os us last night. said we would beat Ashville the next time we play in which would be the finals of the county tournament. Carla called we talked for about an hour and a half.”

Fri. December 3, 1982
“played Chelsea Thurs. broke my ankle in the first quarter scored 2 points went to hospital told me to go to orthapedics went today told me I’d be out for 6 to 8 weeks played Odenville tonight lost, didn’t dress out, on crutches for awhile. Amanda Armstrong talked to me a little tonight, pretty little thing. first time basketball team has lost to Odenville since I’ve been in seventh grade. cried when I knew I wouldn’t get to play for a while”

You can tell what was important to me as a high school senior: basketball and girls.

I wrote something in the journal nearly every day. A few minutes every night, as I remember, while watching “Bonanza” re-runs. Most nights, the entries were as boring as I’m quoting here, but other nights recorded memories that I’ll never forget, with or without a journal entry.

As I went along, I became more committed to writing each night. For the rest of my senior year and through college, I recorded nearly every day’s events. Some nights, maybe because I was tired, were short: “nothing happened today.” But other nights I went on and on for pages in that notebook.

In college, my girlfriend who would become my ex-wife, found one of the notebooks. I remember how mad she was after reading some of the pages about another girlfriend I had before meeting her. To make her feel better, I ceremoniously tore out months of my journal and burned them. (She forced me to cut her out of a few photos too).

After college, through our marriage and our divorce, I kept the daily journal. In 1991, I got a computer and kept the journal on a disc for a couple of years. Sadly, that computer died and the big 5 3/4″ discs are nowhere to be found. So I lost three years of my journal.

So now, I have three notebooks going from 1982 through 1990. Here’s an excerpt from my last entry when I was living back at home, working as a dj at a Birmingham nightclub:

“On the way to work, something happened that I doubt I will ever forget. I was passing the Chevron just before getting on the interstate. A truck was pulling out of the service station. In the back was Grover Phillips, my best friend in my early childhood years. I sort of casually raised my hand toward the passenger side window. At first, he didn’t know who I was and he waved. But as I drove away I looked in my rear-view window. Suddenly I could tell he recognized who I was and he raised a beer can to me. We watched each other for several seconds and I could see him smile. As we got further away and almost out of sight, he raised the beer can again, and I waved again.”

I would never see Grover again. He died a couple years later in a car accident.

Now I doubt anyone will ever read these journals. I keep them hidden. Bob Greene wrote in his column that he would occasionally pick his up and read about the boy he used to be. I haven’t read mine in years and years.

Looking at some of those entries from…geesh has it been 25 years already, I’m feeling very very old.

Even with the valium, I couldn’t go through with the MRI.

After taking the pills I was called back to the MRI room and I thought if I could see exactly what I was about to get into, I could get rationalize sitting there for about 45 minutes. In my mind, I knew it wasn’t possible to suffocate in the chamber. I could see with my own eyes that with the helmet thing on, I could still be able to breathe.

But I still couldn’t do it. The medication had eased my mind a bit and I didn’t feel that anxious about it, but laying on the table and having the cloth put over my eyes must have sobered me up as the valium didn’t have any effect.

I’m going to try again, maybe one afternoon rather than in the morning. My idea is to stay up most of the night, get as little sleep as possible and then after working through the day, take a valium before getting on the table. I think if they’d leave my eyes uncovered and let me sit there for a few minutes I might be able to doze off. Surely if I fell asleep at the start, I could make it for 45 minutes to an hour.

I’ve figured that the helmet thing is the deal-breaker for me. It covers both my nose and my mouth so when I breathe I can feel my breath hitting me in the face. It makes me feel like, instead of being in a tube that I’m in a box being buried alive.

Even the open-MRI’s use the same type of helmet thing. I’ll call the doctor next week and see what he recommends.

by the way, thanks for the comments, phone calls and e-mails.

I seem to have developed some claustrophobia. When I first said that to my wife, my 8 year old daughter asked “you’re afraid of Santa Claus?”. Well…I wish that were the case.

I’ve never really enjoyed being in small or confined spaces but I’d never felt scared of it, just didn’t like it. In the last few months I’ve had a couple experiences when I felt that if I didn’t get out of a small space, I was either going to die or I was going to kill somebody. (I probably shouldn’t have written that, I’ll wake up tomorrow and find G-men on my front lawn).

So here’s what happened. Last October when I was flying back from a conference in San Antonio, I couldn’t get an aisle seat. Or, maybe I had an aisle seat and the airline switched my reservation. Whatever, as soon as I sat down in my seat next to the window, I started to feel like the world had closed in on me. It wasn’t a small place, a DC-9 or something of that sort.

I guess it was the fact the fuselage was so close to my head and the flight was full but when I looked from the back of the plane to the front…I got really nervous and claustrophobic. I closed my eyes and tried to get my mind off of it, but even with my eyes closed all I could see was me sitting in this very closed and tight space. I really started to panic. I knew there was no way on earth I was going to be able to sit there for the nearly 2 hour flight.

I was close to telling the flight attendant that I would have to get off the plane and take a later flight when the lady next to me offered to switch seats. Those two feet closer to the aisle made the difference and after a few minutes I was fine.

Then a week or two ago, I was scheduled for an MRI on my head. My doctor treating my migraines wants the pictures. Now I’ve had an MRI on my head before so I knew what to expect. I was never anxious about the tests at all, but when I first got on the machine and they put the cloth over my eyes and the plugs for my ears…I freaked out. We tried several times to do it but I finally had to give up. I was such a basket case that even after I sat in the hospital for a few minutes and walked to my truck, I got a little claustrophobic again in the parking deck. I drove back to work with the windows rolled down even though it was raining. All day long I never felt like I caught my breath.

I’m going back tomorrow morning to try again, this time they’ll sedate me.

I wonder if maybe instead of migraines causing these spells of light headedness, that maybe it’s a product of being claustrophobic. I mean, if I react so strongly in an airplane and other tight spaces, that maybe some of that comes out when I’m in traffic or a small room? Looking on a medical website I see that even looking at a closed door can make some people feel anxious.

I wonder what caused me to be claustrophobic. Have I always had it and it wasn’t that bad or is it something new?

Whatever…I’m already a little anxious about going back for the MRI tomorrow morning.

Four years ago, I bought a new television. A 57″ Sony Wega projection HD model. Besides my houses and cars/trucks, it was the most expensive toy I had ever purchased at around $2,500. I got it just in time for the college football bowl season. I picked up a Sony surround sound system and we were enjoying some of the best in-home entertainment we had ever seen.

For a while. Within about 6 months of plugging it in, I noticed green lines on the screen whenever the screen was black between commercials. I called Sony and the guy on the other end of the line explained it sounded like a problem they could fix. Since it was under warranty, they arranged for a local Sony repair house to pick it up and replace the troubled sensors or tubes or whatever was causing the green lines.

The set worked fine, for a few months until the green goblin lines showed up again. Sony covered it and we were back in business. For about another six months.

The warranty had just expired but since the problems were nothing new, the Sony customer service tech arranged to cover the cost again. But then, again after about six months, the lines were back.

I’ve lived with the lines since then. They weren’t very noticeable when there was a picture on the screen, especially on the HD channels. I figured it was something I was either going to have to pay to have fixed myself, or learn to live with them. I chose to get used to them.

Just before Christmas, I walked in as the kids were watching Jimmy Neutron on Nickelodean. I looked at the picture and said “cool, Jimmy Neutron is in 3D”. But after putting on the glasses that came with our Shrek DVD, I quickly discovered it was not a 3D picture but the green lines had evolved into a blurred picture. It seems that the green lines turned into two images on the screen, one just below or above the other.

So now, I’m in a quandry. Since I no longer live a few miles from the Sony Service Center in Memphis, I’m going to have to load it up (no easy task) and drive it to a tv repair place that might be able to replace the tube or sensor. I have no idea what this might cost, but figure I may have to do some math to figure out whether a fourth fix will be permanent enough to justify shelling out the dough to have it repaired. The other option is to buy a new big screen tv.

Every electronic thing in my house (except my Mac laptop) is made by Sony. I have three Sony video cameras, a Sony surround sound system, a Sony desktop computer and a Sony digital still camera. I recommend Sony products to everyone who asks me about cameras and computers and tvs. But now, after buying a $2,500 Sony Wega tv that has been bad since bringing it home from the store, I can’t recommend them any longer.

I remember the tvs my dad bought when I was a kid. Actually, I remember the tv (singular) that my dad bought when I was growing up. The 37″ set we had in the living room lasted longer than I did in that house. So what is a Sony consumer supposed to do now?

I look at all the big screen, hd tvs in the Sunday circulars and think which one I should buy, if the repair is too costly and/or is only temporary. I like the LG sets but Sams Club has some nice Vizio sets that don’t cost as much as Sony, Panasonic, Samsung or Hitachi sets. I still love the look of the Sony LCD and Plasmas, but I can’t help but wonder how long they’ll last before giving up the ghost…or giving me the ghost.