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Northwest Passage
The Emerald City has claimed another Knoxville news anchor. Hana Kim is leaving WATE-TV to join KCPQ in Seattle. A few months ago, Jamie Lynn Drohan left WATE for KOMO.
Hana was my classmate and “lab partner” in the FBI Citizens Academy. Before class, we would chat about Northern Virginia. Hana is from McLean and graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of Maryland. My friend Bean, who lives in Seattle, also went to UMD.
Hana covered a lot of the biggest stories to hit Knoxville during her time at WATE. Her Twitter feed often included real-time courtroom updates from notable trials. On one of his blogs, Dan Andrews praised Hana for her reporting skills.
Some of Hana’s friends posted photos on Facebook of their good-bye celebrations. I got a kick out of a picture that showed a cake decorated with icing images of the Sunsphere and the Space Needle and the words “from” and “to.”
Zip Clip
The video of my first zipline ride at Wahoo Adrenaline Park lasts exactly one second. The forward motion of the ride caused me to accidentally hit the camera’s stop button. Because I was there for a media preview, the management offered to send me for a second ride, which I eagerly accepted.
There are three parts to the Adrenaline Park experience. The Mountain Dew SkyBridge has glass panels that make it look like you are walking on air. Four parallel ziplines take adventure-seekers across the French Broad River. A speedboat brings you back across the river, spinning a few 360s along the way.
The harness, which is like those used in parasailing, is more comfortable than the straps at Wahoo Ziplines tree-top tour in the mountains.The ride itself is more comfortable than most roller-coasters I’ve ridden. The thrill comes from the height, the speed, the length of the ride, and the view of the river.
Little Pole Peeps®
If a Marshmallow Peeps® Rainbow Pop was a diorama, it would be a horrific scene of impalement. I got one of the Pops in the Easter basket my wife and I shared. The yellow, green, pink and blue chicks are slightly smaller than regular Peeps® and they are coated on all sides with sugar, unlike the chicks that are ripped apart from their brethren in a row of five and have a white wound to show for it.
The Washington Post sponsors one of the better-known Peeps® diorama contests each Easter. This year, I especially liked the representation of Lincoln’s assassination and Mount Peepmore. In nearby Fairfax, my alma mater, George Mason University, held its own Peeps® diorama contest. The winner was a Star Trek display.
The Peeps® website lists 23 different art contests around the nation. I noticed that all of the entry deadlines were before Easter, except one. The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland made its deadline April 16, which lets you wait until after Lent. Plus, after Easter you can buy Peeps® at a discount.
Maxims Mezzanine
Inside the security command post high atop Neyland Stadium, we were told that a motion detector on the field would immediately alerts campus police if there were intruders. I wondered how many years it’s been since the Vols’ offense triggered those motion detectors. Of course that was just a joke, which I shared with a few members of the FBI Knoxville Citizens Academy Alumni Association as we returned to our cars.
There was a torrential rainstorm when we arrived at the stadium for our 6:00 p.m. tour. Fortunately, most of the tour was indoors. We saw the Lauricella Center for Letter Winners, the Vols locker room, the University president’s box, the press box, the luxury boxes on the Terrace level and the command post. The locker room had a display of UT gear and an assortment of pro jerseys representing Vols who played in the NFL. When we went outside, I learned that the famous checkerboard pattern in the end zone comes from the checkerboard bricks near the top of Ayres Hall.
Walking and Talking
The weather was supposed to be nice for the 14th Annual Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk. For the past week, the forecast called for a sunny day with a high temperature in the low 80s. Instead, we got a brief thunderstorm as the walkers circled the campus of Knoxville Catholic High School and All Saints Catholic Church.
For the third year, I was honorary chair of the Fun Walk. Since I am also president of the FBI Knoxville Citizens Academy Alumni Association, I arranged for the group to have a table at the event. Two volunteers handed out cards with a QR code for the FBI Child ID App for iPhones.
Like last year, we gave away a green bicycle from Regions Bank. My wife and I aren’t sure what exactly I said that made Fr. Ragan Schriver put his hand to his mouth. It might have been my joke about the green helmet protecting the regions of the brain.
The Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk has evolved from just a walk to a mini-festival with food, games and prizes. I collected extra donations for Columbus Home by making shout-outs over the P.A. When I saw Heather Tang and her family, I offered to make the shout-outs in the same French accent I had used the day before when Heather’s daughters were dancing as Wild Ducks in a scene from “The Ugly Duckling.”
When we started, I intended to go on the entire walk with Fr. Ragan, who was pushing his niece’s wheelchair. After one lap around the track, concerns about the weather kept me and the microphone near the public address system. It rained a little bit during the Walk. Most of the participants had returned to the stadium when we first heard thunder and I had to send everyone to their cars. As it turned out, the severe storm missed the campus but it was better to be safe than sorry.
The photos shot by Kim McCready help illustrate the large turnout. Kim’s camera also captured WVLT sports director Rick Russo supporting the cause by walking.
Make Way for Ducklings
Until last night, I had no clue that ballerinas put a mixture of Baby Orajel and Preparation H on their sore toes before dancing. My wife picked up that tidbit in a backstage conversation with the mother of a dancer in the Oak Ridge Civic Ballet Association production of “The Ugly Duckling” and “Masquerade.”
It was moments after the curtain closed last November on “The Nutcracker” when my friend Heather Tang enlisted me to be the narrator for “The Ugly Duckling.” The adaptation of the famous fable was paired with a ballet called “Masquerade.” They had a matinee and an evening performance yesterday. Kylee Haskell and Julianna Romanoski, the same two girls who alternated the role of Clara in “The Nutcracker,” alternated the role of the Ugly Duckling between the two shows.
Sharon Nicklow-Cousins directed the ballet from a script by ORCBA’s Brian Quist and Glenn Arnold. Heather and Sharon gave me free reign to interpret the script as I liked. I only changed a few words here and there. My main contribution was to give the Old Duck a voice that was supposed to sound like Julia Child but came out sounding like a Monty Python character. When the Ugly Duckling encounters other animals after fleeing from the farm, I gave a ridiculous French accent to the leader of a flock of wild ducks. At one point during the evening performance, I may have referred to some farmyard chickens as “Angry Birds.” I got the idea from seeing some kids playing the popular game on their iPad between shows.
All of the folks at ORCBA were remarkably kind and gracious to me. They put my name in the logo on the t-shirt and on the cover of the program. They put my photo and bio inside the program as well. I had to smile when I realized that most of the bio came from my Wikipedia entry.
Donna Jett, the mother of ballerina Sarah Jett, sent me several of her photos from the evening performance for use in this blog post. Sarah and Jenny Collins alternated the roles of the Lark and the Duckling-turned-Swan. Sarah and Jenny also danced the lead roles in “Masquerade,” which was directed by Molly Koon Quist. They played two women competing for the affection of a Gentleman Suitor, played by Taylor Gober.
Ten, I See
March 27, 2002 was Wednesday of Holy Week. It was also the first day of my on-air audition in Knoxville. Over the weekend, I was reminded of my ten-year anniversary by the program director who hired me. My wife and I happened to run into Shane Cox and his wife at the store on Sunday and he congratulated me on ten years in Knoxville. I’m glad he recognized me, since I don’t look the same as I did back then.
On the night before my audition, I walked from my hotel on Summit Hill to Manhattan’s in the Old City. Before I left Burbank, I had searched online for any improv groups in Knoxville and discovered Einstein Simplified. I couldn’t have predicted that I would be performing with them on that same stage three months later.
I was on the air with Phil Williams on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. I remember two of the segments distinctly. There were three celebrity deaths that week, which is probably why we called Death Pool Dave to get his reaction. I found out later that the interview helped them decide to hire me. On Holy Thursday, Phil picked me up at the hotel and we went to a 24-hour supermarket. We bought Marshmallow Peeps so I could see how many fit in my mouth. We repeated the bit a year later and I surpassed my personal best.
I flew back to Burbank in time to attend the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at St. Finbar Church. I was one of the parishioners who had their feet washed during the ceremony. In the days that followed, my friend Pam Baker suggested that I wear my new sweatshirt in front of Hollywood landmarks and pose for pictures for the station’s website.
By the end of April, I had moved to Knoxville. I had a week or two to get acclimated before my first broadcast, which was a remote from West Town Mall during the station’s “Hands on a Harley” contest. I was thrilled that “Survivor” winner Tina Wesson came to the mall for an interview.
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