Q
Tell me a little bit about yourself?
A
I grew up on a tobacco farm in Southside Virginia and learned the American work ethic — taught by my Dad. Though certainly not the culture and mindset of my life beyond that, I learned much of what life is all about and who people really are and what really matters digging in the dirt and talking with the folks. Given the chance to interface with the rich and famous, I found much truer rich experience in being with the folks at the other end of the spectrum. When Meryl Streep on the Golden Globes referred to the African American lady behind her in the yellow dress, as one of the leaders in the entertainment business and that she had started out in a sharecropper’s cabin, I was brought to tears remembering such folks. My parents taught me much and were not only the “salt of the earth” but some of the best people you’d ever meet with amazing compassion and values. They were loving and not corrupted or defiled by much of the division that it still in existence to this day.
I was anxious to escape the isolation and the farm and though, a part of me misses some of that today, I think I learned that people are people wherever they are or come from and that in those differences are a real richness. I just heard the words of Barbra Streisand’s “People Who Need People” (are the luckiest people in the world) in my mind. I took these experiences with me as I went off very frightened to do four years of undergraduate work at Randolph-Macon College and then follow that with three years, less frightening, at Duke University for graduate school. As I continued to try to find myself and discover why I was on planet earth, I did more graduate work at Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Virginia and then the Family Institute of Virginia and then another graduate program and degree at the College of William and Mary. Some people are just slow learners! For 13 1/2 years I worked in a profession that I was ill-suited for but continue to grow in the process, sometimes smoothly, sometimes more quietly, and sometimes painfully both personally and professionally. As I look back it was all part of the journey that all of us are on — but most often not consciously or intentionally. 2020 vision only comes with hindsight but I always felt that through the process I was being guided by something far beyond me.
Since 1984 I feel like I have been on “A Magical Mystery Tour” of synchronicities and amazing miracles and very hard work. Starting in 1999 I began working full-time primarily with people with substance abuse and criminal justice issues. These are amazing people! People simply looking to find themselves and get back on track after seeking themselves in all the wrong places. I guess that is somewhat like the song ” Looking For Love” (in all the wrong places) are giving that a much deeper meaning. I am humbled by the unimaginable double privilege of directly and indirectly serving and participating in the lives of probably 40,000 human beings — and with the ripple effect who knows how many others.The words of Louis Armstrong “What A Wonderful World” as it is found and captured in “Good Morning, Vietnam” put me in touch with this. In 1999 The Center for Therapeutic Justice was born and formed with my partner Penny Patton. It is nothing short of the most amazing spiritual and life journey that I could ever have imagined. Full of excitement and love and joy and holy moments and some of the hardest work I have ever done. And in the words of another song “It Has Only Just Begun.”
That’s a little more than just a little bit about me. I have a hard time not getting into the real — what else is there?
Q
Tell me about your radio background?
A
Having started in my home at age 9 or 10, at age 15 in 1963 I was ready to reach out and find a mentor, a true journalist, and radio personality. His name was Don Green. He died in the early 70’s of a heart attack and when my Dad told me, I sobbed for hours. He gave me so much! Radio etiquette, do and don’ts, knowledge of the news industry and real journalism was mixed in with getting knowledge of the world around us especially during the Vietnam war with the mix of the music we now call the oldies. And I mean real oldies from the 60’s and 70’s and a dash back into the 50’s. I came to know that there was something very special and magical and a privilege to sit in front of a microphone. To this day there’s something mystical about that experience for me and I love it and can never get enough of it.
And Robin, on her Wednesday oldies, shows through the decades on WINDY 103.9 FM, talks about taking us on a journey, I awaken as at the end of an especially engaging movie to find that I have had a real experience but now am back to the present world. I listen to that music and I am automatically taken on a journey. How does that happen with what I would refer to as often “sentimental”, silliness and adolescent romance (and yet, I know every word). But as of a 1983 visit to Nashville reminded me today, it is the soul of the music and words that speak to us, and deal with us and is with us in far beyond the words and the sounds.
Q
What is it about radio that is appealing to you?
A
Radio is the real intimate media. Not television, it is too distracting and has been very corrupted in most of its forms today. Certainly not social media, but it has its place and can have positive ways of connecting people, but is also become quite corrupted. Radio is somehow more pure, less distracted and even more connecting. Sadly, most commercial radio has lost the magical intimate touch and is prescribed and formatted such that it has lost the spontaneity, the personality and the joy that it has become a sterile sound generator.
I find WINDY 103.9 FM has a different brand of sound with a community emphasis and openness to fresh ideas and communication that is seldom found. And it is just beginning to take form. I have to believe that it is an outgrowth of the heart and spirit of the people who are putting it in place. I am excited to share and contribute to this journey in any way I can. It’s online presence can open it up to major opportunities.
Q
Why do you love music?
A
Music transports us and is entertaining and enjoyable — what a mix. I like the sound of music. Pretty much every kind of music though I know little about much of it. So it seems a strange mix, the main music I listen to are oldies and classical music. It was mainly classical at home and in the car until WINDY 103.9 came along and said: “you have been missing something really important.” I think better with music. I am more creative with music. I am happier with music. It lifts me up, takes me on a memory tour or brings me to the deepest places where I feel what I feel deeply. Music moves the soul and can influence and change how we feel in an instant. You might then ask, is that like a drug? You don’t like how you feel so you find something to instantly change it? That might be a little bit of the case but it certainly doesn’t carry with it the downsides of many other addictions and, like many addictions, holds that its true basic things that really matter. A favorite author of mine said that addiction is a spiritual emergency. So we are at one and the same time on the cusp of what could be damaging but also on the brink of what could open up a fulfilled and meaningful life. To be quite frank, one of the things that I found very exciting was that the station advertised Alcoholics Anonymous which has not only saved millions of lives but brought people back from the brink to open up and expand their lives like never before. I guess I’m saying it is all about a spiritual quest. May I please share — don’t live without this quest.
Q
Are there any music experiences you would like to share,
such as a concert that sticks out in your mind,
or meeting a favorite singer/songwriter?
A
There have been many over the years but some do stand out. When I was a teenager working at WJWS in South Hill, Virginia I went to a concert of Lester Flat and Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys — their bus out front had “WSM 650 AM” on the side. I went backstage in the little theater where they were performing and drug my poor brother along with me to talk first with Earl Scruggs. He was warm and congenial and interactive with this young clueless kid who was talking with him. He asked me if I had ever seen Lester dance. To be quite frank I had not and I said so, so he then proceeds to call Lester over and have him dance backstage for us and then out onto the stage. What a joy to have these guys who have the iconic TV theme for the Beverly Hillbillies –“up through the ground came a rumbling crude” there talking to Morgan and Gray Moss from Skipwith, Virginia.
Then there was the chance in 1983 to sit at the feet of Loretta Lynn on the Opryland stage singing “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” Icon and iconic music!
In 1989 as the co-personality of “Keys County Classics” with Morgan and Mary on WKEZ, I to got the meet the legendary “queen of country music” Kitty Wells and her husband and visit with them on stage and backstage and then to be invited on their bus at Donk’s Theatre in Mathews. Oh, my! The lady who opened up country music to all the women stars and stood up for what she believed in. She stood up to the men who were not inclined to open the door fully to women. What a sweetheart and real people!
There were Willie Nelson concerts and there were Rod Stewart concerts. And the Jewel concert especially to hear her song “Hands” which became such a major part of the vision that we have had lead us to offer life to people for 17 years. In the 80’s, it was standing just a few feet from Ray Charles from backstage with my son and hearing his soul come out through his voice and his fingers on the keys. That’s enough but there are many more.
Q
I find that people really connect to music because of a memory a song can evoke.
Please tell me the following:
What is your favorite song?
A
That’s a really tough one because there are so many. The freedom songs — a new world order in the 60’s. The Beatles and British invasion opened and gave voice to many pressing human concerns. From the early 80’s, “I Want To Know What Love Is” (I want you to show me). Then, of course, there are those specific songs related to specific events and times in my life. Then there are the specifically spiritual, inspirational songs. “Are You Lonesome Tonight” being played in the basement of a friend’s house for a small gathering of early age teens. Then, there is the next oldie or classical piece that plays, and at that moment, it is that music. Then there is the only TV show that I have consistently watched for the last few years, “The Voice”, to hear and feel the soul and depth and talent and heart of the performers.
A favorite song from childhood?
A
Judy Garland, Jimmy Durante as only he can do it and the close of his 50’s TV show with “Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are!”, Louis Armstrong, and the sounds of the 40’s and 50’s and the beginning of the rockn’roll era and going back even to the big bands — and Dick Clark’s American Bandstand and a 1957 concert of the Dick Clark “Caravan of Stars” at the Mosque in Richmond — seeing Lloyd Price riding in his white convertible.
Favorite love song?
A
Now that’s really getting personal, but I’d have to say Neil Diamond “Hello Again!” from the movie the “Jazz Singer.”
Favorite song to dance to?
A
From the 60’s “Soul Man”
Favorite Disco song?
A
What’s that, that was not my era but there is some great music out of that era.
Q
What is it about music, particularly oldies music, that moves you?
(See above.)
Q
What is it about music that stirs passion, love and even anger in so many people?
A
Music can bring out the best and possibly even the worst in all of us. But even the anger is real and that’s what it really brings out. Maybe it’s whatever needs to be released in us and it can give us words and emotions or, whatever we’re doing is who we are and what we are at that moment. Wow! My job is a psychotherapist engaged with human beings is often to get them in touch with their feelings and therefore with who they really are and how they handle those feelings and use that energy in positive or healing ways in their lives. Music can be a vehicle.