"SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN"*

"What? What is going to happen?"

"Something wonderful."

*The character Dave Bowman, in the movie "2010", speaking to Dr. Heywood Floyd and telling him of "something wonderful" that's about to happen. Isn’t it the same with spring each year…something wonderful does happen!

That's kind of the way I felt last weekend. So many wonderful things were going on in and around Harriman, that I had a sense, and I think those around me had similar feelings, that "something wonderful" was about to happen. Something so unique and so good for us all that you could almost feel it in the air.

Spring seemed to break last week, and my wife and I enjoyed a part of the "Dogwood" trail in the Fountain City area. Everything was new, fresh, green, colorful, and alive! It made us feel new and alive too!

Back in Harriman Saturday we took in the "Cruisin' in Harriman" (2^nd Saturday each month), the first one of the 2010 season. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood and all the cars were freshly washed and waxed. People milled about Roane Street once again and passed hopefully under the Princess marquee. Like me, they wondered about what the future would bring – about the new spring season and about the Princess.

Having been to 2 or 3 "Cruisin's" previously, I was shocked to see that 90% of the cars present last Saturday were new to me. I had no idea there were that many classic and hot rod enthusiast in the area. Therefore, you cannot say "if you seen one, you've seen'em all!"! There will always be something new and unique to see.

Down at Roane State, Bill Landry finished his 3rd performance as Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird", and then celebrated his 60th birthday with his wife Becky, the cast, crew, and the audience. He too seemed excited about the good things happening around him, and about the kindness of Roane County folks to stick around after the play to wish him “Happy Birthday”!

What is it? What is going to happen? Well, I don't know officially, but I do know that the TVA money has been received, and that the contract with Frank Sparkman has been “gone over with a fine-toothed comb”. So, it could only mean that our Princess should soon be receiving a brand new spring bonnet, and then soon after she will be redressed in a brand new fresh dress. Her dress should resemble her original frock, but underneath it will be supported by the latest in modern fire protection and technology. She will once again be ready to entertain us with live shows and events!

No, she will not be ready by the previously promised fall 2010, but will probably be ready about three months later than first thought.

I don't know about you, but as long as I know spring is coming, and I can see its first hints, I can wait for it! Just knowing our Princess will actually be restored is enough for me...I know it will happen! I know something wonderful is about to come true!

BILL LANDRY’S RSCC MEDIA PRODUCTION CLASS TO PROMOTE AREA’S “THINGS TO DO – PLACES TO SEE”

Doug Mills, long time WBIR employee, and principal videographer for the “Heartland Series”, frequently assists Bill Landry with his Roane State media class. This week, Doug took David McCarthy, of Harriman, and me to the Obed Wild and Scenic River area near Wartburg; including the Lilly Bridge and Nemo Bridge Accesses. The purpose of the outing was to gather footage for a class assignment.

Landry assigned each of his class members the project of producing, shooting, and editing a 3-minute video clip promoting the many wonderful things there are to do in, and around Roane County. Each student was to choose which area they wanted to cover. David decided he wanted to work on the Obed River as his promotional theme.

The idea is that these clips will run “on loop” at a kiosk in the lobby of the Princess Theater once it is opened. The Princess will become a TDOT Trailhead Exhibit location. These looped videos will show the visitors to the Princess, some of the most important and exciting “things to do” in our area.

Doug, David, and I arrived at the Obed Visitor Center in Wartburg (across the street from the courthouse) early Wednesday morning. We obtained maps and chatted with the knowledgeable park ranger about the best vantage points along our planned route. There was no denying that the lady knew her park geographically, and we were soon on our way.

Before we knew it, we were parked at the Lilly Bridge which crosses Clear Creek. We loaded up our gear, for me it was quite easy since I was only packing my digital SLR, and headed down to the creek (looks more like a river to me). However, Doug and David had to lug their heavier video cameras and supporting tripods.

Even though the area was still dressed in winter clothes, there were hints of little red buds on the tips of spring’s flowering trees. The blue sky contrasting with the mid-green of the Obed River, and the dark green of the evergreens, was quite striking. Shooting north, I avoided the morning haze, and was able to take several pleasing shots of the country side with a deep blue sky background.

It’s as the promotional material states…wild and scenic! Each season will naturally give it a different look, but even the browns of winter are breath taking. As the suns moves across the sky, the view offers a different look with each passing hour. To me, these vistas always make me feel closer to my god, and proud to be an American and a Tennessean. It’s wild, it’s free, and it belongs to me!

We left the bridge and the valley floor and traveled several hundred feet higher to the Lilly Bluff Overlook. As soon as we stepped out on the overlook boardwalk, we were greeted by the local buzzards, flying just a few feet higher than the overlook. It was a wonderful prelude to the breathtaking view you can get from that lofty height!

Each of us took up and later exchanged positions around the overlook, standing there for longer than required to shoot the needed footage or take the desired photograph, but it was just too beautiful to not look at it longer with the naked eye. As you can see, I was in full awe of what I was seeing, and I sat there a long while just trying to burn the image into my brain for some raining day down the road.

We made our way back to Wartburg for a quick lunch and then pushed on back down into the Obed River Valley to the Nemo Access area.

Clear Creek runs into the Obed River north of the Nemo Rapids, and the Emory River runs into the combined waters just above the Nemo Bridge. The water flowing under the bridge is considered the Emory River from there.

At the Nemo Access, you will find a modern new bridge (the William Harry Kries Memorial Bridge) on which to cross the Emory River. However, the old steel girder bridge still stands, brightly rusting, as a pedestrian bridge for hikers. You have a feeling of walking back in time as you casually stroll across the river to the far side. It may be then, for the first time, out on this bridge, that you hear a distant rushing of water. It’s the powerful Class III rapids just 2 to 300 yards south of the bridge!

Down off the bridge, you can walk beneath both bridges to a sandy beach, where it’s obvious that generations have swum there in the summer, and perhaps partied there after dark. There are some broken beer bottles around, so that provides evidence that it still occurs today.

There used to be a nice leaning tree, equipped with wooden cross pieces nail up its trunk, from which you could cannonball into the cold waters of the Emory, but alas, someone has chain sawed it down! The resulting cut, with most of the weight hanging heavily toward the water, caused, what is known in the logging industry, as a “barber chair”! This type of splitting can be deadly, so it’s unknown what happened, if anything, to the person who took it upon themselves to cut the tree down.

Following the sound of the water around the sandy shore, you will eventually come to the “Nemo Rapids”. The Emory takes a dramatic left turn just below the bridge and heads straight into a rock wall. This steep rocky bluff forces the Emory to then turn back south and head on toward Oakdale, Tennessee, which is 10 miles further down stream. It then flows more slowly past Harriman and finally into the combined waters of the Clinch and Tennessee Rivers.

It all made for a wonderful day in the sun under a blue sky with good friends. You should go up there one day and just see what God hath made!

You can find more photos of this trip by clicking HERE!

I’m sure; visitors to the Princess will be impressed with what our local students create. I’m already impressed with them.

There are many people like them working hard behind the scenes to see that the dream comes true. This class, and these students, is just a few of these people. They are setting the ground work for the future!

ROANE STATE’S “THEATRE” CATALOG OFFERS A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE OF THE “PRINCESS PERFORMING ARTS, EDUCATION, AND CONFERENCE CENTER”

Roane State Community College currently offers a large curriculum in “Theatre” courses. If you follow the embedded link, you will see a wide variety of course descriptions that provide our local students a pathway to their dreams – a career in the arts!

I visited one of the classes last Thursday evening titled, THEA 236, Media Production I. Students enrolled in this class receive 3 credit hours for writing, producing, and directing a short narrative or television program.

In this intensive classroom project, taught by, local celebrity Bill Landry, students also explore the crafts of editing, screenwriting, and cinematography. In addition to producing their own television show, students work in key positions on each other's projects. The class goal as a group will be to workshop a teleplay script for a scheduled shoot at the end of the term.

Mr. Landry could not be in class that evening, but he turned the class over to two local personalities with a wealth of television and movie making experience.

Andy Garrett, station manager of Channel 95 in Anderson County, and Brooks Benjamin, a local Roane County school teacher with three movies under his belt, filled in perfectly Thursday. Topics covered ranged from how to manage a television station single handedly, to how to produce and direct your own movie!

Andy often has to be fleet of foot to cover all the events at Anderson County Schools, city meetings, and to keep the screen from going black at Channel 95. I was impressed with all the hats Andy has to wear, and all the equipment he has to program and manage to keep that from happening. Andy has been the station manager since 2008.

Brooks, of course, is a wealth of information when it comes to movie/commercial making, editing, writing, and producing. He has been in the business since 2004.

He is currently riding a high with the recent news that Wal-Mart, Target, Amazon, Turner Classic Movies, and others, are offering his “Boys of Summerville”!

Brooks was born here in Roane County and got his bachelor’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University. While in college, Brooks was an actor in the independent movie, "The Oak of Weeping", where he played the part of Robert "Moose" Wade.

Since college, Brooks has written and directed several commercials and short films, including his award-winning short comedy, "Minor Mutants". He also wrote, produced, and directed his award winning feature thriller, "Point of Fear".

Brooks and his wife, Jackie Barnes, are the owners of Lycan Entertainment, their production company.

Andy and Brooks, along with a couple of others, recently outlined the equipment that a television, radio, and sound studio would need in order to provide a state of the art experience for the students of Roane State involved in the “Theatre” curriculum. Their expertise in this area has been invaluable to the success of the Princess dream!

These “theatre” classes are just a small glimpse into what Roane State will be able to offer from the planned “PRINCESS PERFORMING ARTS, EDUCATION, AND CONFERENCE CENTER”. Once the dream begins at the Princess Complex, there will be hands on education and training in radio, television (Channel 15), movie and stage productions, lighting, sound, and cameras.

What gets me excited is all the entertainment it will bring to Roane County. All the class projects, and all the local music, art, and acting talent, will have a beautiful venue in the Princess – its stage, studios, and broadcasting capabilities!

Students of the arts, and their dreams, will come to Roane County to learn and experience what they need for a career in arts and media!

There are other media production schools in the United States that can give you a better view into what the Princess dream is for our students. Schools like the Alpha Pacific Institute in Arizona, Full Sail University in Florida, and many others you can Google. However, none of these campuses offer a fully functioning and broadcasting radio and television station, sound studio, or a 900 seat auditorium with a state-of-the-art stage!

The dream is already coming true in the courses offered by Roane State – they are the ground work! We should be hearing about TVA releasing the promised restoration money any day now. On that glorious day, the dream will begin to really come true!

THEY GOT NUTTIN’ ON THE PRINCESS!

Ashville’s “Fine Arts Theatre” is an Art Deco style theatre that is the only theatre left operating in downtown Asheville. It originally opened as the “Strand Theatre” and had a seating capacity of 800 in orchestra and balcony.

Today it survives as a double screen theater showing first run American, foreign, and independent films. The theater now only seats 250, for the up and downstairs small screens. It is also the home of the Asheville Film Festival held in November of each year.

The building itself is a cream color with two sets of block glass running from the top of the building down to the marquee on each side. It has a small triangle-shaped marquee with the theatre name in neon on each side.

Gary and I visited the theater this past Saturday and met a very welcoming staff that was more than willing to talk about their lovely theater. We toured both levels of the theater, and I couldn’t help but think how much more room and seating (900) there will be in the Princess Theater once it’s restored. However, I would love to attend a film at the Fine Art’s Theatre sometime. I hear the projection and sound equipment is top-notch, and they do serve alcohol!

We also attended a concert by movie actor Jeff Daniels at the ultra-modern “Diana Wortham Theatre” later that same evening. This theater is a modern 500 seat proscenium theatre built in 1991. It is contained within Pack Place, a cultural center located in the heart of Asheville's beautiful downtown area. (I apologize for the quality of photos used here, but I only had my pocket camera.)

The Diana Wortham Theatre is perfect for stage and music productions requiring a small intimate venue with all the modern amenities and equipment. The floor seats 352, and the balcony seats 142, but all seats seem very close to the performances. Everything in the theater has the patron in mind; from the large clean restrooms, to the easy elevator ride between floors, to the conveniently located lavation bar in the downstairs lobby.

Still…I couldn’t help but think about what we will have in our Princess and how they got nuttin’ on us.

Now…if that money would just come through we could get started!

“THE LAST RIDE” WENT THROUGH ROANE COUNTY

Veteran film and television director Harry Thomason is planning a film about the last ride Hank Williams, Sr. took, and has already begun collecting film clips for the production.

It is most probable that the ’52 Cadillac, driven by 18-year-old Charles Carr, with Hank asleep in the back seat, came through Roane County sometime on New Year’s Eve 1952. They were on their way to Canton, OH and points north, as a new beginning for Hank’s career.

Upon reaching Knoxville, Williams decided to try getting a flight out of McGee Tyson; however, the flight never occurred due to snow in the area.

Williams had his driver take him into Knoxville where they got a room at the Andrew Johnson Hotel. Some speculate that the 29-year-old entertainer was already dead, especially since porters had to carry him from the car to the room. Reports say Carr seemed nervous and later decided the group should push on toward Ohio in order to make Hank’s scheduled engagement.

Again Hank is carried from the room and placed, like a drunken man (maybe a dead man) into the back seat of the Caddy.

Regardless of when and where Hank Williams, Sr. died, his short life of alcohol and drugs (particularly morphine) took a toll on his skinny body, but it was not until arriving in Oak Hill, West Virginia that Carr determined his boss was dead.

The best historical account I found was from “Death of a Legend”. It makes for interesting reading and ties the story to East Tennessee. It’s still quite a mystery and makes great fodder for books and movies 57 years later.

Today, on the anniversary of that occurrence, Bill Landry coordinated/directed, and Doug Mills filmed several local vintage automobiles driving around the area. This footage was procured by Harry Thomason for his movie “The Last Ride”. Thomason called Bill, who is part of Princess Productions, just yesterday, but, even on short notice, Bill was able to get the needed cars, including a baby blue ’53 Cadillac convertible belonging to Rex Walls. The car is basically like the one Hank Williams was riding in as he passed this way.

I can find nothing on the Internet about this planned movie and nothing about when it might come out, but when it does we can all watch for the Trenton Street, Rocky Top General Store, and Riggs Chapel Road scenes. This may even be the first mention of the production on the Internet!

Other local car owners with period vehicles in the scenes were: Hubert Blaylock (his red Chevy), Boyd Woody (his black Plymouth), J. T. Robinson (his Model A), and, of course, J. D. Williams driving his black ’41 Ford.

One day soon, Roane State students will be prepared to shoot and edit for production companies too. The “Princess Performing Arts, Education, and Conference Center” will be equipped to teach them what they need in order to following their dreams in a career of movie, stage, radio, and television production. The industry will always be seeking trained and devoted employees for their productions and Roane State will become one of the best places to look for that talent.

That day is getting close too. Frank Sparkman still says he can make Chris Mason’s deadline of fall of 2010 if the promised TVA funding is received in January.

SUPPORTING THE LOCAL SPIRIT BY DANCING THE NIGHT AWAY!

Remember when we all used to hang out around the American Legion Hall in Harriman on Friday nights? Of course I wasn’t much of a dancer, but I did occasionally try to impress someone by “cuttin’ a rug”, but mostly I stood outside listening to the music while talking and smoking with “the guys”!

Good music and dancing still happens on Friday nights at the Harriman American Legion Hall. As a matter of fact, some of the same old gang that used to make all that music are still “pickin’ and grinnin’” as the “Riverfront Band”! It begins at 7:00 PM.

Remember ol’ Bill and Bobby Wright (no relation), Jim Galyon, Jim Crawley, and Gary Morgan? They are still making good music! Other local musicians also occasionally join them; you never really know who will be there, and YOU could join them if you really wanted to! Why not…let’s bring back the fun of Friday nights with music, singing, and dancing!

Pictured on the left are Jim Galyon, Noel White, David Galyon (Jim’s son from Houston), Jim Crawley (on steel), Don Gullett (on bass), and Forrest Robbins (on drums). The young man in the white cap is not a band member.

In the photo below right, (right to left) are Jim Galyon, Noel White, Muse Watson, Bill Wright (back to camera), Don Gullett, Ronnie Duncan, and Bobby Nelson.

It was that good music and that down home gathering of people that drew Muse Watson to the Legion Hall that last Friday back in November. He had heard about how Roane County folks still get together for some country music fellowship, and he wanted to get right in the middle of it. He, like a lot of us, feel like supporting whatever goes on in our area is the best way to keep our county alive. We have to keep that spark that makes us unique burning for the future generations.

On the left is Bill Wright with Bobby Wright (no relation).

Just imagine how it could be if Harriman had a real stage, with real lights, and a real sound system! What a night we all could have in the kinship of music and entertainment. That is exactly what is in the near future for our city and county. It will be a “sound space”, as Muse calls it, where anyone can come and record for posterity their own particular brand of music, or entertain a crowded auditorium of over 800 seats!

Our county and geographical area is just full of talent with no place to really perform at their best, or to such a large audience. The Princess Theater can be that for all of us. This is just another reason to support this effort. We need YOU to get involved, even if it’s only telling someone else about the dream! It can come true…we can do this!

Contact me at fuzzbert_1999 AT YAHOO if you want to offer your talent/s to the project, or know of area residents that have a musical or acting talent that would be perfect/appropriate for a family stage show.

SUPPORTING ROANE COUNTY MEANS MORE THAN JUST THE PRINCESS

It’s so good that so many people are supporting the Princess Project, but we can’t put all our hopes of restoring our community just into the Princess Theatre basket. We must support Harriman in everything that the cities and county does to promote its communities and businesses.

Two new businesses have opened within the last couple of months, and supporting Harriman means supporting these businesses through patronage and word-of-mouth advertising.

I don’t own a motorcycle or ATV, but I did let my friends that do know about the new store. It’s good for Harriman if “Rising Sun Cycles” (Roane Street) remains a viable business.

Oh, how I remember the old Merri-Mac Bakery and those wonderful “cream horns” Edna McNamer made. She made them for Harriman for 51 years before closing. I heard that she passed her recipe on to Mike Borman, the new owner, so I personally patronized the new “Pattycake Pastries” at 611 Queen Ave. to try them. They were as I remember! I was pleased to have met Mike as he and Kevin catered the “Parade of Christmas Trees” held in the Temperance Building last Friday and Saturday (November 27-28). Just look at those cream-horns and festive cookies!

It’s not just the businesses we need to support; it’s the special events that our communities present. Events like the “Parade of Christmas Trees”, “The Nutcracker”, the “Rockwood Christmas Tour of Homes”, the “Candy Cane Hunt” in Kingston, the “Historic Harriman Christmas Tour”, the “Colonial Christmas Candlelight Tour”, the “Santa’s Carousel Quarter Horse Show”, and “A Christmas Carol”! Never say there’s nothing to do in Roane County, just Google “Christmas Events in Roane County, TN” or CLICK HERE to read more about these and other events.

There are loads of things to do, we just have to get off our duffs and get out there and support them. Put them on your calendar today…make your holiday something special!

Touring the Temperance Building in Harriman was a pleasant surprise for Muse Watson. He insisted on showing his support for the Temperance restoration project while he was in town. He did several promo clips with Pat Mynatt; both did several pieces in one take! Pat had never done anything remotely like this, but pulled it off very professionally and seemed to enjoy showing off the building to Muse. (More photos of the Temperance Building HERE.)

The building looks beautiful to the untrained eye, but there is a lot of structural work that needs to be done, and soon. This is also a need worthy of our support.

Coming Next…Did you know there’s places to dance or listen to live music almost every night of the week in Roane County?