Rick Richardson    -    A Very Public Life ... Richardson has a laser vision for keeping history; and his website is a virtual book on his family life and career. You will meet his girl friends, mentors, see inside his childhood home, find out about music in the church, and his first disastrous broadcasting experience. It should encourage you to capture your history. Chris Lund Ancient Victorys News Volume 5, Issue 1 - Spring 2012   Autobiography of Rick Richardson   My senior year school photo Back row: Gregory, Me and Gary Front row: Dad, Steve, and Mom Smokey (Dad's lap) Lori (Mom's lap) Our neighbors: Kathy, Little Guy, Kimmy and Snooky Steve and Lori (in the fire truck) Me on my trike Me, Gary, Lori, Gregory, Steve Second Grade photo Third Grade photo Our House on 1st Street Me (looking out the back door) Uncle Lester, Grandpa, and Dad Fourth Grade photo Fifth Grade photo Our Trailer (and the girls) Seventh Grade looking out the back door of "the barn" (Laddy)                                                             Family History My great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather, (William Richardson) was born in England about 1620; he was married in Newbury, Mass. to Elizabeth Wiseman, Aug 22, 1654; d. March 14, 1658.   Children:    Joseph* ... May 18, 1655 Benjamin ... Mar 13, 1657 Elizabeth ... Mar 14, 1658 *Joseph of Newbury married Margaret, daughter of Peter Godfrey and Mary Browne (daughter of Thomas Browne "Weaver" who came to this country in 1635.  Mary was born the same year and in History of Newbury and Savage's Genealogy "was the "first white child born in Newbury". Children:       Mary       ...  April 16, 1682          William   ...  Mar 22, 1684 Joseph   ...  Dec 31, 1686 Elizabeth ... Feb 28, 1689 Daniel      ... Apr 4, 1694 Sarah       ... Jun 19, 1694 Thomas    ... Feb 15, 1697 Caleb*     ... Jun 9, 1704 *Caleb of Methuen married Tryphene Bodwell, daughter of Captain Daniel Bodwell and Elizabeth Parker. Children:             Mary      ... Jan 8, 1736 Parker   ... Mar 7, 1738 Caleb     ... Sep 26, 1741  (killed at Ticonderoga in French and Indian Wars)  Tryphene ... Jan 13, 1743 Abigail     ... Sep 8, 1746 died 1749 Samuel    ... Feb 22, 1749  (drafted into the Revolutionary War) John        ... Sep 1, 1751 (also drafted into the Revolutionary War) Abigale   ... Feb 25, 1754 William*    ... Oct 21, 1756  (drummer in Revolutionary War) Eliphalet   ... Jul 1759 *William married Lydia Messer about 1784 (she was born about 1767 and died July 14, 1843) (William died March 21, 1836). from: Willey's Book of Nutfield: The William who married Lydia Messer came to London Derry as a blacksmith and his sons elected to work at the same trade.  He erected the first ox swing in town; bringing parts of it from Methuen.  William Messer Richardson stayed in town to assist his father.  Their blacksmith shop was located in the NW Londonderry Baptist Church (the old meeting house) The father was a drummer in the Revolutionary war, and his brothers also enlisted in that war.  He died in Londonderry, but both he and his wife were buried in Methuen, Mass. Children:             Caleb      .. Jan 3, 1786 died Mar 16, 1870 Lydia      ... Dec 14, 1792 William Messer* .. Feb 12, 1795  died Oct 20, 1879 Nathaniel W. ... Mar 12, 1799  died Sep 18, 1848 Thomas J. ... Jun 14, 1801   died Sep 20, 1873 Elizabeth P. ... Jul 25, 1803    died Sep 4, 1859   ? Samuel R. ... Jul 19, 1807      died Sep 4, 1859  ? Mary H.  ... Aug 29, 1809   died Feb 19, 1839 William Messer* married Betsy Pettingill December 28, 1820 (she was born Nov 28,1801 and died Jan 4, 1889) William Messer was a private in the company of cavalry attached to the N.H. militia in the war of 1812.  His company was composed of men from the towns of Londonderry, Windham, Pelham, and Salem.  Though not called to active service, were for several weeks, in readiness.  It is related of Mr. Richardson that once when his company was ordered to Portsmouth, and the order being countermanded before they got there, he was so anxious to return home that he rode faster than his commander.  When later taken to task, he replied, "I could not help it; my horse was bound to go."  (Parker's History:  Hon. William Messer Richardson was a trustee of Pinkerton Academy.) Children:         William P.* ... July 26, 1821   died May 13, 1893 Margaret ... Feb 5, 1823    died Sep 4, 1859  ? Eliza J. ... Sep 7, 1827    married David Barker Mary A. ... Nov 15,1837    died 1885 Samuel ... Mar 30. 1845   died May 8, 1900 William P.* married Sarah Hale Goodwin December 10, 1855 (Richardson and Goodwin join here) William Pettingill Richardson, son of William Messer Richardson, was a life-long resident of Londonderry, his life and death occurring in the same locality in which he lived and conducted his business. He learned the blacksmith's trade from his father and grandfather, and continued that occupation for many years. He was a skilled workman, and the plows, wagons, and sleighs manufactured by him commanded a ready sale.  (he was born in the little house south of the stone house; he built the stone house when he married; John Larkin built Herbert's house and lived there.  William bought it of him, but Visnor lived in it then; Florence and George Dickey later lived there.)  In 1863 he built a saw mill on the Little Cohas Brook, and engaged in lumbering.  For a few years he used the old fashioned up and down saw, but afterward refitted his mill with modern machinery.  In the saw mill and cider mill he did considerable business for several years until ill health compelled him to give up active work.  The cider mill was destroyed by fire three times, and each time rebuilt.  Finally both mills burned on October 26, 1893 and were a complete loss.  Mr. Richardson was a strong willed man, self-reliant and entergetic, honest and straight-forward in all business relations.  He was a self made man, having been obligated to get his education as best he could.  While still young, he undertook to relieve his parents of their burden of debt, and he not only accomplished this, but accumulated considerable property in town and Manchester during his lifetime.  Some of this went to his children, Sarah having a lot in Manchester, woodlots in Londonderry, and her mother's old homestead.  He was Justice of the Peace for 40 years.  A few years before his death, he purchased a piece of land; the lot he chose for his final resting place is marked by a handmade granite monument, situated near the old Hobbs place on upper Skim Mild Road.  (Family remains were moved to Sunnyside, and that family cemetery was done away with, about 1915. While driving home from Manchester one day in autumn of 1892, his carriage collided with another vehicle and he was thrown out, sustaining injuries from which he never recovered, and died May 13, 1893 Children:  Harry    ... Jul 14, 1857 died Jan 1892 (age 35) William*  ... Feb 26, 1860   died Jul 25, 1917 Myron  ... Mar 21, 1864   died Jan 17, 1933 Sarah  ... Apr 10, 1866   died Jun 9, 1937 William* (M.D.) married Esther Frances Whidden  August 23, 1884, the daughter of Joshua and Adeline B. Whidden, born Jan 1, 1860, died March 20, 1915 William Richardson M.D. was born at the old homestead February 26, 1860.  A beautiful stone house, two stories high, inside blinds, long ell and shed and large barn all connected; it burned January 1920; this was the birthplace of most of the family, including Roy Annis.  Dr. William was educated in the #7 school and at McGraw Normal Institute at Reed's Ferry.  Sarah told of the long drives from home to the river, and then being ferried across.  When about 20, he began to study medicine, and received his degree of M.D. from Dartmouth College in November 1883.  He married Esther F. Whidden of Auburn.  For a short period he practiced in the towns of Lowell, Mass., in Alexandria, Salisbury and Londonderry.  In June 1887 he located in Westford in the town of Ashford, Conn. and built up a successful practice.  On account of the serious illness of his father, he returned to Londonderry in 1892.  Children:               Florence Edna ... Mar 28, 1886  died May 21, 1925 stillborn daughter ... Jan 2, 1889   in Westford Conn. Mabel Edith ... Nov 21, 1891 William Percey ... Nov 17, 1894   died Jul 3 1897 (3) Lester Earl* ... Sep 23, 1897 Lester married Ruby Annis Lester Richardson retained the Londonderry home after his marriage, and after the fire, he built a small place on the original cellar hole.  This building he moved when Grenier Air Force Base leased his farm.  The little old family house was torn down at this time. Ruby Annis January 1, 1919, the daughter of Leon and Mary Goding Annis and was born in Suncook, N.H.  1899   Children: William Leon  Apr 5, 1922 (navy WW2) died Nov 1977 Lester Earl Jr.  ... Apr 12, 1924 (navy WW2 and Korea) (UNH '54) Harry ... Apr 6, 1927 (navy WW2)                   Lester, William, and Harry Richardson My Dad I didn't get to know my dad.   My dad died when I was 22, (he was 55) and I was too busy trying to figure out who I was, to learn things about him.   He was writing a book sometime around then, but I don't exactly know what the book was about, or if he ever even completed it ... and if he did, what happened to it.   I believe it was a western fiction, although I am not sure. He was an inventor.  He had an invention for cars called "light-guard" a device that made your horn honk if you left your car lights on.  This was before cars had buzzers that would let you know that your headlights were on. I am not sure why he never considered a little buzzer as the warning device. It would have been a much better product (as it became popularized as). He was always thinking of new concepts and inventions. He was a funny guy, although I didn't realize how funny he was, till shortly before he died, when I began to appreciate his sense of humor. He was also always looking for a good business to start, and had an independent spirit with a desire to do things for himself.  He believed that if you wanted to do something, you simply needed to move forward, find out everything you could about your goal and make it happen. If I could go back in time, I would listen more, ask more questions, and appreciate more. William*(my dad) married Doris Elinore Joslyn (my mom) January 24, 1948  Mom was the daughter of Howard Tansley Joslyn (1902-1981), a Baptist minister and a (high ranking) member of the Masonic Lodge.  He was a well respected community leader in New England.  Grandpa Joslyn had a refined quality.  He was proper and respected.  He, however, was not a grandpa that would roll around with you on the floor and play kid games. My grandfather was interested in having my father become a member of the Masonic Lodge, but he chose not to, and instead went "out west" for opportunity in the aerospace industry. My mother's mom died when my mom's youngest sister (Faith) was born, so I never knew her.  My grandfather remarried however, and my "Grandma Joslyn" was much like my Grandpa Joslyn ... a very proper couple.  I never knew my Grandma Richardson (Ruby [Annis] Richardson).  Although she was still alive till I was in high school, she never left the asylum that she had been put into when my father was young.   My mother says that after she had her first child (my brother, Gregory) she secretly went, with her child, to the asylum/hospital to visit my grandmother.  However, she was told that there was no visiting that day, and she never got the courage to visit again.  I am unsure as to why she was originally admitted. My brother tells me that there are two stories about her committal: 1) She threatened to leave her abusive husband. I had heard is that she pulled a knife on my grandfather (probably in defense). I don't know whether the story is true. And 2) She had become a follower of Mary Baker Eddy the founder of Church of Christ, Scientist. I remember my Grandpa Richardson as a miserable old man, that talked gruffly and I was never able to understand what he was saying (the few times he did say anything to us), he never smiled and constantly smoked cigarettes. When I was in high school a letter came addressed to my dad (although it said "Billy" and not "William").   It was a birthday note from his mother.  A one dollar bill was included.   My father never talked about his mother. Children: Gregory Howard (My oldest brother) The middle name (Howard) was, of course, after my mom's father. The first name (Gregory) was after one of my mom's favorite actors, Gregory Peck. Gregory Peck Gary Cooper William Gary The first name is a Richardson family name. There is a William Richardson in almost every generation. This would make my brother William Richardson the ninth. The middle name was after another one of my mom's favorite actors, Gary Cooper. My dad got a job at Boeing in Seattle, Washington as a machinist in 1953, and so he moved "out west" to Seattle.  When I was very young my dad went to barber school, and most of his working years were going from the one profession to the other.  He enjoyed being a barber, but there was more money in being a machinist. Stephen Lester The middle name (Lester) was after my dad's father, however, the first name was the result of mistaken identity. My mom was convinced that the third child would be a girl so she chose "Stephanie" as the name and did not have a boy's name picked out. When she found out that her girl was in fact a boy, she adapted and changed "Stephanie" to "Stephen", pronounced like "Steven". Ricky Nelson Ricky Brian My first name comes from another media star. This time it was a little boy. The youngest son of Ozzie and Harriett Nelson ... Ricky. I am not sure what my middle name is from (other than it seemed to sound good with my first name), although when I was in my earlier grade school days I used to be insistent that the spelling of my name was B-R-A-I-N.  I remember a teacher correcting me on it's spelling.  I thought she was crazy.  Didn't she think that I knew how to spell my own name!  When I was a little older my brother, Steve would call me "Ricko".  When I began my radio career I just used my first and middle name ... "Ricko" Brian (I just changed the spelling to Rick O'Brien)                           Mom (and me)                               Baby Me, Mom, Dad, Greg Gary and Steve I asked my mom what I was like as a child.  She told me that she didn't remember.   I was the fourth of seven kids, and there was always something happening around the house.   I was a fairly easy child to take care of, (and was seldom in trouble), so there were few dramatic events.  I guess my memories of my mom are pretty similar. With three older brothers and three younger sisters, I think I took for granted how much my mom would do.  I assumed that everybody had a mom that could do everything that my mom did.  We were always on time to everything.  In fact we were usually early.  I am amazed at how my parents (especially my mom) was able to get all seven kids ready for everything.  Although we may have arrived late to an activity, I don't remember this happening ... EVER. When I was very young, my mom seemed older than she was.  As long as I can remember, my mom had false teeth, wore hearing aids, and had arthritis in her hands.   However, she was just 28 years old when I was born. She lost some of her hearing when she had scarlet fever as a child. Early Memories We were getting popsicles.  That's my first memory. My mom had gone to the hospital, to deliver what would be the first of my three younger sisters, and my brothers and I were getting popsicles that my mom had prepared for this occasion.  I was three years old. I have one other memory of that time.   I was sitting in a large galvanized tub on the outside of the house on 14th street.  It was next to the pair trees.  I was quite small because I fit nicely into the tub.  It was like my own personal swimming pool. Our Trip to Disneyland! I do not remember anything about going to Disneyland. How could I? I was less than one year old. Disneyland opened July 17, 1955, just over a month before I was born. My dad decided to make the trip down the next summer. There are no pictures of me in the Magic Kingdom; only my brother Steve sitting atop the carriage that I was in.   Lori Anne Lori is not only my sister, she is one of my best friends. Sandra Jo I am not sure if Sandy's name has another origin, other than it was just a name that my mom liked.   Donna Dee Donna's middle name is the nick-name of a lady that my folks were friends with when she was born. Her name was Udea.  We had many meals with her and her husband, Ed and Udea Ptak.       Steve, Gregory, Gary and me in our front yard on 14th Street (our next-door-neighbor's house is in the background) The Club We all gathered on the back porch. My three bothers Greg, Gary and Steve along with our neighbors (Little Guy and Snooky) and me. It seemed like the logical place to meet. After all we were the ones that had the jumbo bag of dry dog food. Crunch crunch. It was our after school snack we could eat by the handfuls.   Gregory I never really knew my older brother, Greg, when I was little.   He didn't talk to me, and he seemed mean.   I was shocked one day when he offered me part of the candy bar that he was eating.   As we have grown up we have also grown closer (he doesn't seem mean any more).   Gary My brother Gary always had an answer for everything. They were seldom true, but they always sounded like they were. One day our neighbors (Little Guy and Snooky) came over and Snooky had a discovery to relay. He said “You can melt anything”. I had never considered this before, but either Little Guy or Steve spoke up and said “You can't melt wood”. As I was beginning to think of things that maybe could or could not be melted, my brother Gary said, “Oh yes, you can melt wood in a double boiler”. So that settled it. There were things that may seem like they would not melt, but if put into a double boiler it would indeed melt. We did not know what a double boiler was, we just knew what Gary had told us.   Fourteenth Street I was born at the ideal address ... 258 14th Street.  The numbers didn't mean anything, but the location was perfect. It was at the end of 14th Street.   To the front of the house was the park, to the side of the house was the woods, and in back of the house was the big field (that had the big "sand pile" in it).  We had a big plumb tree and a couple of small pear trees on the side of the house, and an apple tree out back, along with a stump that I was told use to be a peach tree.   Across the alley were concord grapes and blackberries. The house had three small bed rooms.  When we grew too many for the house, my dad built a "bunkhouse" for the boys.  We had chickens for a period of time (behind the bunkhouse) and we had two cats and a dog.  The dog was named Teddy and he was kept chained up out back. The boys would spend all day playing outside in the woods, the field, or the park.  Our world was all quite close to the house, but it seemed like a vast area at the time. Sex I had no idea about what sex was, before the sixth grade.  Although I knew that boys and girls looked different, I didn't think that there was any practical reason for it.    I remember one time when we were on vacation, visiting our aunt and uncle in New Hampshire.  I was probably about five or six years old.   My cousin Kay and I were in our bathing suits (after running through the sprinkler).  Kay thought that it would be interesting if we took a peek at each others equipment.  She said, "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours".  It seemed like a fair trade to me, so we went into a room.  I don't remember what the room was, however, I do remember that it had a hook-in-eye lock.  Kay had climbed up on something to lock the door, but before we had time to exchange looks, Uncle Stoney was knocking on the door.  He seemed upset about something and hit the door real hard, breaking the hook-in-eye lock from the door.  I don't remember much of the aftermath or any following discussion.  I just remember that it was a scary experience when it happened. It didn't seem like we were being "nasty" at the time.  However, I was unsure what being "nasty" was exactly.  Just a few months early than this incident, My friend Snooky and I were playing in our yard, and he told me that he could not poop under the work bench any more.  My dad had an old "work bench" on the side of the house.   He hadn't used it in a while, and the grass was growing up around it.  It seemed like a good place to poop.  I'm not sure why.  We had done it a time or two before, but this day Snooky said he could not poop under the work bench because it was "nasty".  I took his word for it, we never pooped there again.   My first political memory was the Presidential race of 1960. I was five years old, and my Dad was voting for Nixon while my mom was voting for Kennedy. Neither my dad or mom seemed to be tied to the political party. However, both my parents were conservative traditionalists, but my mom liked Kennedy. Second Row - Fourth from the Right Second Row - Second from the Left   The Barber Shop and the Day Care 1962 was the year of the Seattle World's Fair (beginning on April 21st). My dad, having gone through barber school, had opened up his first barber shop in Sea-coma Village (a small strip mall, south of Federal Way) months earlier. The shop was on Highway 99, which was the highway that went from Tacoma to Seattle. Although I-5 was scheduled to open before the World's Fair, my dad was convinced that it would not be ready.  This was good for his business, because anyone traveling to the fair from Tacoma would be driving right past his barber shop. This would not just be good for immediate business, but the promotional value of people seeing the shop as they drove past it (on the way to the fair) would bring in business far after the fair itself was over. My dad reasoned that if that were true for the barber shop, it would be true for ANY business.  So, my dad hurriedly opened up an additional business (a day care) in the strip mall.  My dad would man the barber shop, as my mom maintained the day care a couple of doors down. It seemed like a perfect plan. He bought all sorts of children's furniture, games and toys, a new refrigerator ... EVERYTHING you would need to be open for the beginning of the World's Fair.  Just days before the fair was to open, however, his plans came crashing down, as miraculously I-5 opened. With the new "super-highway" now open, Highway 99 was deserted to all but local traffic. Although Smiley Burnette (side-kick to Gene Autry and Roy Rogers dropped his grandchild off at the daycare center during the World's Fair, the mass of people driving past his businesses never happened and it wasn't long before the daycare went out of business. After some time, he also closed the barber shop and went back to work at Boeing as a machinist. Second Grade Art When I was in the second grade, I drew pictures of some of America's founding fathers.  If I remember correctly it was George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and one other.  They were free-hand drawings that I did, from looking at some books that we had at home.  I brought them to school to show my teacher.  She commented on how good she thought they were, and asked me about how I had drawn them.  She then asked me if she could show them to some other people.  I told her that she could.  A few days latter she told me that the principal had asked if he could show them to other principals.  I said he could.  I am not sure exactly who he showed them to, or what ever happened to them.  They were never returned. The Last Christmas “Look what Santa Clause brought me!” said Lori. She held out her new dolly, showing to our guest. There was an awkward pause, as the man looked at my father and said, “You know that we don't observe Christmas don't you?” My dad nodded his head and said, “Yes, this would be the last time.” I suspect that this was the most that my parents had spent on Christmas. My brother Steve was also proud of his gift; a large cardboard space capsule, (with all of the controls printed on it's paper covering) that you could sit in … just like real astronauts. I got “Lincoln Logs”. It was indeed the last Christmas that I ever celebrated. I was seven years old. It was the beginning of 1963, and we were about to join a church that celebrated the “Jewish” holidays, although still holding a lot of Christian beliefs. Known, at that time, as the “Radio Church of God” the church observed a Saturday Sabbath from Friday sundown till Saturday sundown. We didn't eat pork or shellfish, and we were non-Trinitarian. The church, however, also had some prophetic beliefs that (to a seven year old) were really scary. One publication that was particularly frightening was a booklet titled "1975 in Prophecy" it had some very scary pictures of what the future might be like: During the coming famines and disease epidemics, and during the Great Tribulation, with its fiendish tortures, people will die so rapidly that mass burials will take place. Here you see thousands of bodies being buried in a ravine by earth-moving equipment. Unrepentant human beings will be stricken with excruciatingly painful boils—no position of the body may give relief from their agonies—as God destroys the evil works of sinning mankind to bring the nations to repentance and peace. "1975 in Prophecy" When God intervenes in world affairs, catastrophic earth tremors will create imagination-defying waves, sweeping whole cities from their foundations, killing millions of terrified unrepentant victims in their surging power of destruction. Mankind will learn its lesson in no other way!     According to the Church belief, however, there was to be a time of 3 1/2 years before all of this would happen, where we would all go to a "Place of Safety". When I did the math, that meant we would leave for this place in 1971 or 1972!  If that were the case, I would never graduate from high school.  That was of much greater concern to me, than the end of the world. In time the church changed it's predictions which did allow me to actually graduate from high school with a few years to spare! The "Penny" Circus One summer my brothers decided to put on a "Penny Circus" they had various prizes, games, candy, and rides, including wheel barrow rides, where they would push you around the entire side and back yard in a wheel barrow and a slip and slide (water on a plastic tarp). We EVEN had a "jungle adventure". My two older brothers put a whole bunch of our stuffed animals into the old chicken coup, and gave an exciting safari tour! Everything cost a penny.   It was a big success with all the neighborhood kids. It became a neighborhood event that was hosted by two or three different kids (at their homes) just to be fair.  Our parents just let the kids run and set up everything. I don't think that the parents ever got involved in any of the planning, that wasn't requested by one of the kids.  The Shiny Pennies are Better I think my mom had all gotten us piggy banks when we were young to teach us the value of saving money.  I was about seven years old when I came up with a great business idea.  My sister (Lori) had a bank filled with pennies.  She was only three and didn't understand the value of money, and how it is the number of pennies you had that was important.  For her the pennies THEMSELVES was the important thing.  She liked shiny pennies.  I made a trade with her.  I would give her one new shiny penny for every two dull and dirty pennies that she gave me.  What was even neater is that one of my brothers showed me how to clean dirty pennies in vinegar to make them shiny and new again.  I was able to trade my sister one shiny penny for two dirty pennies, then clean the dirty pennies and trade THEM as shiny pennies, doubling my money again!  At this rate I was sure I would be a millionaire before the age of 10.  That is, until one of my brothers found out what I was doing and told our mom.  I honestly didn't see the problem, but my mom said that I was taking advantage of someone who didn't know any better and I would have to pay back all the money that I had made in our trades.    Tin Cans My brother Gary had a tin can collection under his bed.   Every now and then he would pull some out and use them for something.   You could attach strings and use them as stilts, or punch wholes in then and use them as a blackberry press. You never can tell when you're going to need a good tin can. Bible Camp Snacks and the Bee Hive It must have been Gary that came up with the idea.  They told me that they had done it before, and it worked well.  The Church down the road was having Bible Camp in the summer and at snack time they would go outside to the back of the church, where there were tables of cookies and juice.  The church was just on the other side of the woods near our house.  I was told that if I put my nice clothes on, I would be able to walk right up to one of the tables and fill a plate with cookies, and then just slip back into the woods with a full plate of snacks.  There were only about 15 or 20 kids in the class, but for some reason my brothers convinced me that no one would notice that I wasn't part of the class.   So I dressed up in my good clothes (as instructed) and was waiting at the end of the woods, ready to stroll up to the table filled with cookies.   All at once, however, there was a bunch of buzzing all around me.  I was standing over a log containing a bee hive.  I began to scream and ran all the way home, getting stung several times in the process.  I believe I got in trouble for playing in the woods while wearing my good clothes.  The free snack plan was abandoned after that attempt. Evan My older brothers had a friend named Evan.  He was a real live Eddie Haskel (from the leave it to Beaver TV show).   He would come over and act real polite,  "Hello Mrs. Richardson" he would say ... and you could just sense a certain amount of deviance in him.  One day he had come over to our house and began to show me some neat colored pencils.   He was willing to sell them to me for the exact amount of money that I had in my penny bank.   It seemed like a "good deal", he told me how much I would pay for them if I bought them new at the store.  So, I purchased them.  Evan thanked me for my business and promptly remembered he had to be home for something.  Just after Evan left my brother Gary came into the room, and asked me what I was doing with the pencil set that he just bought.  As you can imagine we were both upset.  I just spent all my money to buy a pencil set that my brother was telling me I couldn't have.  My parents tried to litigate the situation, but as I remember, I did not end up with a favorable outcome. Nose Trouble My brothers would always tease me and play practical jokes. They would laugh and so I believed everyone would think it was funny.  One day I came into the room and asked what they were doing.  One of them said, "Are you the police, or do you have nose trouble?" Then they laughed as I stood there unsure of exactly what they meant.  However I was certain that this would be a funny thing to say and was eager to "try it out" as soon as I could.  Shortly after my mom came into the room and asked what we were doing.  I quickly responded "Are you the police or do you have nose trouble?"  By brothers gasped not believing what I had just said, and I was in trouble.   For some reason it wasn't funny when I said it.  I must not have told it that well. The New Dog Our dog, Teddy, died one night without warning.  He seemed fine the night before, but he was dead in the morning.  My dad thought that he may have been poisoned, although there was no evidence of this.   After Teddy died my dad brought home a new dog, because everyone was sad about not having Teddy around any more.  This dog, however, was quite different than the big dog (Teddy) that had been in our back yard.  This was a Mexican Chihuahua; a nervous frightened little dog with a continual annoying bark.  After a day or two, the little dog was gone.  No one was sad about it. "Bill, They're Negros" I was born in 1955, and there were not very many black people in Seattle at the time.  In fact I had never seen a black person until I was about five years old. I think there were only a couple of black families living in Auburn (the town that I grew up in) through the 1970's.  We were not racists, we just never met anyone who was black.  One Christmas around 1950 my parents responded to a request to open our home to a couple of soldiers stationed at Fort Lewis (who were away from their families for Christmas).  We were waiting by the window to get the first glimpse of our guests, when a car pulled up and out stepped two young men.  "Bill, They're Negros." my mom said.  Although that may sound a bit strange today, that was not an improper thing to say at the time.  It wasn't until the 60's the terms "Blacks" and "African Americans" were created.  Since the Black population in the Seattle area was so small, it was a very unusual site.  My parents invited them in and they shared Christmas dinner with us.  I had a very positive impression of Black people.  These guys were soldiers, and soldiers were heroes, and these soldiers were also black. My next encounter with a black person was a few years latter.  We had begun to attend the Radio Church of God in Seattle, and one day when we were leaving my dad had forgotten to put the briefcase (that was filled with Bibles and notebooks) into the station wagon.  He had left it on the back bumper.  We drove off and didn't realize the briefcase was missing until we got home.  A couple of days later, we got a call from someone who had found the briefcase, and my folks arranged to pick it up.  The man who found the briefcase was black.  Although he didn't want any money for returning "what was yours" my mom wishes she would have given him one of the Bibles.  He had commented on how nice they were.  The Kennedy Assassination Nov. 22, 1963         I was in the second grade. Our teacher was giving us a lesson of some type when one of the other teachers from down the hall came to the door.  We could tell that something unusual was going on.  The two women stood in the hall as the other teacher began to talk.  We couldn't hear what they were saying.  We only saw the reaction from the comments.  Both women hugged each other.  I believe that act evoked a few snickers until we realized that both women were crying.  It seemed like quite a while had passed, although I am sure it was only a few moments.  I can't remember how our teacher broke the news, but we all soon learned that President Kennedy was dead.  For many of us, it was the first time that we knew of ANYONE who had died.  We weren't sure how we were supposed to react of feel.  We watched the older kids and our parents.  Everything seemed to stop.  A whole nation was in shock.  For the next week or two, we watched the black and white screens of our television sets with a heavy sadness.    Early Music For a period of time we had an old "Victrolla" (in the bunkhouse on 14th Street) with some 78rpm record "albums".  They were actual albums with 5 or 6 sleeves of 78rpm records.   Some of my favorites song were from the Ink Spots and the Mills Brothers (black vocal groups from the 40s and 50s).  My mom and dad had quite a few records that we would listen to and sing along with, learning the various vocal parts.  My brother Gary would learn the harmonies and teach us the parts.  When we would "practice" the song, Gary would make sure that we were on our note by whacking us in the chest every time we were off.   Years later, when I was in high school, my music teacher asked me why I flinched every time I was off my note. When I was in the second grade, music changed.  It was 1964 and The Beatles released their first American single, "I Want To Hold Your Hand".    Their style was like nothing we had heard before.  We would listen to the radio, every chance we had, to hear a Beatles song.   We couldn't hear enough.  It seemed like there HAD to be a Beatles song playing every few songs.  There was really no music on FM back then, and the AM stations that played top 40 music had fairly low power and plenty of static.  Many times we had to listen hard to even hear what the song being played was.   When KOL started playing top 40 (rivaling KJR) we would switch back and forth till we heard a Beatles song being played.    It was sometime after the Beatles had a number of hits, I remember being over at a neighbors house.   There were a couple of girls (with old fashion names - one was named Vera) that lived down the street.   They had a empty garage (Their dad probably had the car at work).  I remember going over to their house and singing Beatles songs in their garage (because of it's acoustics).  We used brooms, pretending that they were microphones.   Within a very short amount of time, several other British groups released records in the US.  It was called the British invasion.   Between the Beatles and the other British groups, along with the Beach Boys, there were plenty of songs to learn and sing. My first performance in front of an audience, was for a talent show at a Church Picnic (I was ten years old).  The four boys sang "I am Henry the Eighth I am". It was a Herman's Hermits song (1965).   My two older brothers (Greg and Gary) sang the song and my brother Steve and I would pop up at the appropriate times and yell "Hen-e-ry" and "No Sam".  It was the Richardson boys signature song until "Sentimental Journey" took that over. Gregory, Gary, Steve me and Lori Prayer Our parents taught us that it was good to pray to God.  Exactly WHAT we prayed, however, was up to us.  They never listened in or anything.  When I was very young, I prayed that I would be Superman.  It seemed like a reasonable request at the time, (just think how surprised all the people who picked on me would be) although it was a request that was never granted. Moving We moved from 14th Street just after my youngest sister Donna was born. That made seven kids.  Donna was born at home.  I remember being outside of my parents bedroom window and seeing my sister being held up and hearing her first cries.  I guess my folks thought the house was too small for the size of our family.  I don't think the house that we moved to, had any more rooms in it, but as I recall the rooms were all bigger than the house on 14th Street.  I had just started third grade. First Street When I was in the third and fourth grades we lived on first street.  While we were there my mom won two drawings.   In one drawing she won a living room set.  A couch and at least one chair.  Having a brand new living room set was quite a big deal for our family.   The next winning was less practical.  She won a Shetland pony. We had a field just beyond our back yard, so we kept the horse there. We named him Mr. Ed (after the famous TV horse). We rented our house from the people who lived next door (on the right side of our house).  They had two sons: Terry and Tony.  As I remember, they were both "trouble makers". While in the third grade we had one of our biggest earthquakes in the Seattle area.  It happened in the morning while we were waiting for the bus.  I didn't really know what was happening at first but I was seeing the ground move as I saw ripples in the mud puddle that I was straddling near.  When we got to school, we were unable to use our classroom. It was an old brick building (Washington Elementary) and I think they may have had safety concerns, besides, a lot of plaster had come down and made a bit of a mess.  Our class met in the library for a few days. Sherry Sessems  The girl next door (on the left side of our house on 1st Street) was named Sherry.  she was my first "girl friend".   Her father was a half owner of J&J Grocery Store.  When we would walk home from school (Washington Elementary) sometimes we would stop at the store.  The man at the counter would say hello to Sherry as she reached behind the counter to grab a fist full of candy.  Then we would continue home.  Sherry had a lot of nose bleeds.  I am not sure why. 4th Grade - Top Row - Third from the Left For fourth grade we were transferred to North Auburn Elementary. I remember having dreams that year of arriving to school and realizing that I had forgotten to put on an article of clothing.   I was very embarrassed in my dream.   I am not sure why but it was a reoccurring dream (usually I would forget a shirt but a couple of times it was another article of clothing).  I began to like disguises.  I wore a string tie to school and I had a small piece of fur that I would pretend was a mustache.  On my 4th grade report card Mr. Tossy wrote:  "Ricky enjoys making others laugh at the wrong times". Swimming Lessons I am not sure why, but my folks thought it was a good idea for us to have swimming lessons.   We didn't live by any water and rarely went to the lake, but we took swimming lessons at Steel Lake a summer or two.  I remember the first year, we started by putting our face in the water and "blowing bubbles".  We later advanced to holding our breath underwater and doing the dog paddle.  A few years later we were able to take swimming lessons at the YMCA.  The "Y" had a bit more advanced program and we learned the crawl and how to tread water.  The boys did janitorial work at the "Y" for a family membership.  At some point during our morning, we found the opportunity to sing "in the showers".  They had a shower room (for both boys and girls) and the acoustics were good for a-cappella songs with three part harmonies. Steve's Buried Treasure My family was on our way back home from some place in eastern Washington.  We stopped at Moses Lake for a picnic lunch.   While we were there the boys went down to a beach area and began to make sand castles.  Someone came up with the idea of putting a "buried treasure" in one of the castles.  My brother Steve looked around for a treasure and then came up with the idea of using his glasses.  We were several miles away when Steve remembered that his glasses were left in one of the sand castles.   When we arrived back at the lake we were unable to locate the sand castle (let alone the glasses), and Steve had to have his glasses replaced. They're Unbreakable! Don't believe everything that you're told.   The optometrist had called The glasses "unbreakable".  So either Greg or Gary decided to show them off.  "Look", he said "these are UNBREAKABLE!" He dropped them to the ground from as high as he could reach.  As it turned out the "unbreakable" glasses were indeed breakable as my brothers demonstrated. The Trailer and the Barn When I was in the fifth grade My dad bought an 8'x36' mobile home. He had also purchased an acre and a half of land on "Cemetery Hill" that had a barn on it.  He created a large opening in the center of the barn, and backed the trailer into it.   we moved into the mobile home, and used the barn as a storage unit for all of our belongings.  We also made a place for Mr. Ed.   I believe we had some type of lean-to with an electric fence around the area on the west side of the barn.   I learned never to pee on an electric fence, as the electricity follows up the stream of liquid resulting in a certain degree of unpleasantness. I began fifth grade at Terminal Park Elementary again.  I remember that there were a couple of "cool kids" that wore all black.  Black shirts, pants, and shoes (Beatle Boots). I was the youngest of four boys.  I got lots of hand-me-downs.  But, all in all, it was good to be back at my old school, however, I was in Mrs. Franklin's class.  At least one of my brother's had Mrs. Franklin for a teacher, and my parents were not happy with her.   The kids at school called her Mrs. Franklinstein.  I think my parents wanted to get me into another class, but I think the school was reluctant to change classes.  I believe it was easier to transfer me to a different school, so that is what they did.  I was soon back at Washington Elementary (in Mr. Monroe's class). My first business enterprise was selling frogs.  back behind the barn there was some swampy area were I could easily catch frogs.  I took them to school and sold them for 25 cents each.   I sold three or four of them before I was told NOT to bring frogs to school again. When I was in the 5th grade I was interested in secret agents.  So I started my own secret organization called S.O.U.N.D. (Secret Organization for United Nations Defense)  I made up an emblem and some I.D. cards and got a couple of my friends to join. After a few months, of living in our trailer (in the barn), The county told my dad that he would have to move the trailer to a mobile home park.  So he had the trailer moved to a mobile home park next to the Stuck River and the rail road tracks. So, the next year I was across town at a different grade school (Pioneer Elementary) and left my S.O.U.N.D. recruits behind. Summer Jobs and Wood Piles We went "picking" every summer as our summer job.   The town that we lived in was in a valley with large farms.   Lots of kids would work in the fields picking a wide variety of produce.  We picked beans and cucumbers, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. We worked every summer so we could buy school clothes.  Our parents would buy clothes for us each year, but they weren't the cool stuff that some of the other kids had.  We would usually get the J.C. Penny  plain pocket jeans from our parents.  If we wanted to get Levi jeans, we would need to buy that ourselves.  We all chose to work, even at a very young age, because the money that we earned was ours, and we could buy what WE wanted.  ALSO, if we weren't working, we knew that our dad would find something for us to do.   Usually it was a job like moving a wood pile.  My dad would say something like, "I'm going to build a hen house right here so we are going to need to move this wood pile over there."  We would moan because we all knew that it wouldn't be long before the wood pile would need to be moved again, to make room for the next project that HAD to be in the exact location of the wood pile.   It wasn't that my dad was a poor planner.  On the contrary, I believe that he purposefully placed the wood pile where it would HAVE to be moved.  It was his way of teaching us how to work, and keeping us out of trouble. While we were in the fields picking cucumbers, we were amazed at the speed of one of the workers.  As hard as we tried we were never able to keep up with him.  He would pick more than twice the speed of the rest of us.  We called him "The Machine".  He was a man with only one arm, and he picked 2000 pounds of cucumbers every day. The Trailer Park So in the summer before I started the 6th grade we moved ... all nine of us ... to the trailer park and into the 8' x 36' mobile home (without the extra space of the barn).   My parents had the small bedroom in the back of the trailer, my three sisters had a unique configuration of beds in the "bedroom" between the kitchen and bathroom, and the four boys were in the storage shed behind the carport.   Moon Maid ... "Ricky, go to sleep!" I was the recipient of many pranks (being the youngest of the four boys). When we lived in the trailer, the boy's room was the little storage area behind the carport.  Next to our room was a small room for the electric meter.  One night my brother Gary set up a reel to reel tape recorder in the small "meter room" next to the "boys room".  It was the 60s and My brother had acquired a tape of "Moon Maid" psychedelic music.  It was very strange sounding (to a sixth grader like me).  I asked "What's that?"  My brothers acted as if they didn't hear anything.  "What's what?" they responded.   "That sound".  "What sound? ... Ricky, go to sleep."   They continued to tell me that they couldn't hear anything, as the strange sounds continued to play.  Finally when they realized that I was beginning to panic (and that the neighbors were coming out of their homes and looking around) they went into the "meter room" and stopped the tape.     Here is what he played. Frogs from outer space We had a pond near the river (not far from the trailer) that was filled with frogs.  One night my brothers told me that they had found a flying saucer.  They told me that they would take me to it, but I had to be blindfolded.  So, they blindfolded me and took me down to the pond.  It is surprising how much a pond (at night full of croaking frogs) sounds like a flying saucer.  When we believe that we are going to hear something, then that is what we hear.  Our view of reality (or in this case the sound of reality) is based upon what our beliefs are, going into our experiences.  So much so, that a pond of croaking frogs becomes the electronic workings of an alien space craft, if that is what we believe that we are hearing.  The Front Yard Crash One night a man that had been drinking drove off the road.  His car flew off the bank and into our front yard.  My parents were off someplace for the night.  We were in our small living room huddled around the TV when we saw the headlights and heard the CRASH!  I think one of my brothers went running out to see what had happened.  A man got out of the car.  It was hard to tell if he was hurt, and he seemed confused.  One of my brothers invited him in (so he could use the phone).  He wasn't sure who to call.  Someone suggested that he call 911.  He said, "Yeah, that's a good idea ... What's the number". Trestle Climbing The trailer park was right next to two bridges that crossed the Stuck River, one was for cars, and the other was a train trestle.   I think it was Gary who discovered that if we went underneath the bridge, we could climb up inside of the trestle to a point above the trains as they went over.   Even though we were safely enclosed behind the criss-cross medal slats, the train seemed to be coming right at us. The trestle would shake tremendously as it went by.  The train was racing by us, just a few feet away. It was better than a circus ride. It was fantastic!  Flat Pennies If you take a penny and put it on the rail road tracks, when you come back (after the train has gone by) it has become an oblong piece of shiny copper.  My "Sick" Year In the winter (when the weather would get too cold to be out in the storage shed) the boys would come inside and sleep in the living room.  With all nine of us living in a space that was 8'x36', it was the most unhealthy year of my life.  I missed a lot of school due to illness (scabies, impetigo, and a few others), and I had to recover from one of my illnesses at a family friend's house.  My body was not getting enough oxygen in the trailer and I was too weak to stand up (I had to be carried to the bathroom). Wetting the Bed I wet the bed till I was in the 6th grade.  My dad thought that I was "lazy", but my mom also wet the bed when she was young.  I just didn't wake up.  Sometimes I would dream that I was getting up and going into the bathroom.  Other times I just woke up after I had a big wet spot on the bed.  It was difficult and embarrassing.  It was a secret that I hoped no one would ever know. What Noise? The pastor of our church came to visit us one day. We were also present and presentable in our small mobile home.  I believe that he was assessing how we were doing and seeing if he (or the church) could help us.  While he was visiting us a freight train went by (as they often would)  He raised his voice as the train rolled by, shaking the entire trailer.   "How can you stand that noise?" he asked.  "What noise?" someone answered.  We were so use to the trains rolling by several times a day, that we had become accustom to them.  It was normal.  Not long after that visit one of the church groups (the Spokesmen Club) had a "work party" to help us move into our barn. Strange Dream When I was in the sixth grade a had a reoccurring dream that would have been cool if it could have actually happened.  I would tread air.  It was like treading water.  If you relaxed you would begin to float, and I could glide along the treetops, just by relaxing and letting myself float.  Pretty cool. Second Row - Second Row from the Left Sex Ed In sixth grade we had a Sex Ed class.  There was one kid in the class that seemed to know things that most of the rest of the class didn't have the slightest hint about.  I didn't quite understand everything that they were telling us, and other things we would not have believed, had our teacher not been the one presenting the information.  We learned that babies come from a sperm and an egg, and the sperm comes from a boy (from where he pees).  After class I remember going to the rest room.  Drew Merry and I were standing at the urinals, looking down and saying "goodbye sperms".  There was a level of innocence that would be hard to maintain in today's society, but it made life much simpler.   Robert Kennedy - Assassinated June 6, 1968 I was in our small room behind the carport, when I heard the news.  Robert Kennedy was dead. He was assassinated; just like his brother President John F Kennedy had been just five years earlier. This was a tough and scary thing to think about. A black preacher, Martin Luther King, was been assassinated just seven moths earlier. Would this be the new normal. Could anyone be safe? The Barn When I started Junior High my family moved into “the barn”. Men from the "Spokesmen Club" had come over on a Sunday afternoon, donating time and materials to make the barn into our new home. It was also during this time that my brothers began to take night walks.  Sometimes it was a long walk that was miles in each direction. Other times it was a quick trip to the cemetery (just a couple of blocks away). It was on those short cemetery walks that we "ran from the law".   Apparently there had been people who had vandalized the cemetery in the past, so there were frequent police patrols.   The game was to allow the police to see you, and then start running so they would chase you.  You would then hide somewhere that you wouldn't be found.  We always hid well, and they never found us.  Although many times their search lights would pass over us as we hid ourselves in the woods or the gully.  Your heart would be beating so hard that you were sure that you could hear it.  After the police drove away we would take the back road home, with our excitement and thrills for the night complete. We lived in the barn for a year or two.   We had an double-seat out-house (no indoor toilet) and a big pot-belly stove in the living room for heat.  We used coal in the pot belly stove that my dad would drive to Black Diamond (a town about fifteen miles away) to get a pick up truck full. We had a sink in the kitchen with cold water.  We never did have a hot water tank in the barn (although I'm not sure why).  The four boys cleaned the Auburn YMCA every Sunday morning.  THAT earned us a family membership, with which we were able to go to the "public swim" session every Friday so we could take our weekly showers (before Sabbath). We enjoyed our time AFTER cleaning the offices and bathrooms, because we would gather in the boys shower and sing.  What a great sound it was! Our harmonies sounded wonderful; so much better than any place else!  In the barn the boys shared one large room. There was a ladder going up to the loft where the boys slept.  Most of the barn had cardboard on the inside wood walls (for insulation).  However, there was no cardboard on the loft walls, so the space between the boards allowed wind and occasionally rain and snow to come through. My mom would send us to bed with big river rocks (the Flintstone's version of an electric blanket). She would heat the rocks up in the kitchen (propane) stove, then wrap them with several layers of newspaper.  As the rock cooled down, we would take one layer after another of newspaper. When morning came, there was a bunch of crumpled newspaper on the bedroom floor and a cold river rock at the foot of our bed. That winter we had a severe snow storm (three foot drifts).   It was a chilly experience to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom (out-house).  We would step out of the kitchen door (usually in our bare feet) and dash through the snow to the out house.  There were always matches in the out-house for you to light at the end of use to take away some of the smell.  However, my brother, Gary, would take a handful of toilet paper and light it on fire, then throw it in one of the holes (it was a double seat-er) to have warm air rise from below.  The out house had a regular size toilet seat and a smaller hole, so the little girls wouldn't fall in while using it. I am not sure why we didn't have much insulation (cardboard) up stairs in the loft area.  Most of the barn, downstairs, had cardboard on the walls; but not up in the boys room.   At times when we went to bed the wind would blow through the spaces between the boards, and when it snowed we would get snow blowing in through the spaces.  There were times when you would go asleep with your blanket over your head, and wake up with a little layer of snow on top of your blankets. When we would burn coal in the pot belly stove it would get extremely hot.  So hot that it would glow red and it seemed that you could see right through the metal.   The boys had the job of going out to the coal bin (this structure that my dad had built) to get a couple buckets of coal.  One day my brother Steve and I were arguing about something (I don't remember what), and I got so mad at him, as he walked back to the barn's kitchen door, that I threw a chunk of coal at him.   I was never a good shot.  I was the kid that was picked last, when picking sides for baseball.  So you can understand my shock when the chunk of coal actually hit him square in the back of the head.   I couldn't imagine that I had actually hit him.   However, try telling your folks that you didn't mean to hit him.  "You threw a chunk of coal at your brother, but didn't mean to hit him?"  It sounds odd but it was the truth. I could never hit anything I was throwing at.  I was just throwing the coal because I was mad.  I never dreamed that I could have thrown at something, and actually hit it (or him, as the case may be).  Rob Rhea I met Rob Rhea on the bus going to the first day of Cascade Junior High. He lived just about three blocks up the street (at the next bus stop). It was nice having a friend on the very first day of school. Rob was my best friend from then until into college. It seemed like Rob and I did everything together. We would spend hours drawing pictures, listening to music and singing songs, riding our bicycles, taking photographs, making movies, and setting up "radio stations" in our bedrooms. It seems like when I was interested in something, Rob would become interested in it too. Many times he would be much better at the thing than I was. Here are a couple of drawings that Rob and I drew when we were in Junior High. Rob kept these drawings throughout his life. He visited me when he learned that he was dying of cancer. He thought that I might have enjoyed seeing them again.   I did. Watch for Rolling Rock One day on the school bus as we were passing by a road sign that said "Watch for Rolling Rock", Rob had made the comment about "What if a rock came rolling down the hill..." I was surprised to find out that he did not know the "REAL" story about the sign. My brother, Gary had told me a story years earlier about the sign, and I naturally believed that it was true! He was always making up stories, and I always believed them. As the story (that Gary had told me) goes, a small Indian boy who was named "Rolling Rock" got lost in the woods. Search teams went out for days looking for the child, but never found him. Someone decided that they should remind people to continue watching for the child and road signs went up everywhere that said "Watch for Rolling Rock". Rob thought this was the craziest story that he had ever heard, and I couldn't believe how ignorant he was for never have heard this story before. It was humbling to find out after my heated argument with Rob, that I was wrong, and the sign about rolling rocks was in fact just that, rolling rocks. Late Night TV My brother Gary discovered a neat trick that winter.  When ever we wanted to watch something on TV (our parents were fairly strict about not staying up on school nights to watch TV) he would go around the house and start turning off lights.  The girls had to go to bed around 7:00 anyway, so that's when the darkening of the house would begin.  The boys would go up to the loft, turn off the lights and be real quiet.  By eight o'clock, since all the kids seemed to be in bed, my parents would go off to bed.  We would wait till we could hear my dad snoring.  If we kept the volume low on the TV, my dad would sleep through it and my mom was hard of hearing so she wouldn't hear it even if she was awake.  My brother also adjusted the brightness setting so it didn't give off that TV glow so much.  On occasion one of my parents would wake up to go to the bathroom (out-house) and we were not able to turn the TV off quick enough.  At least half of the time, I would fall asleep while we were waiting for our parents to fall asleep, and miss all the TV watching that night. Good Night John Boy On Friday nights we would all go to bed at the same time (there would be no late night TV, because it was the Sabbath). So after all getting to bed, we would all say goodnight to each other. My dad would say "Good night, Gary." "Goodnight", "Goodnight, Steve." "Goodnight", Goodnight, Ricky" and so on down the list. A couple of years later when the TV show "The Waltons" came out in September of 1972 (about a large family of seven kids - four boys and three girls), it was eerie how much the series had copied us, right down to the "goodnight" after going to bed at night. However, when the series came out we no longer lived in the barn, and my dad was not able to tell us goodnight, except to the little girls (Sandy and Donna) who were upstairs across from my parent's room.  Lori and the Bee My sister, Lori, carried a penny bank in her purse It was made of very thick glass.  One day when we were in the van (going somewhere) a bee came into the vehicle.  Lori screamed "Oh! a bee!" and WHACK! she flung her purse against one of the van's glass windows ... breaking the window.    (she missed the bee) Lori's Hairdo Once while we were riding in the car, on our way to the feast, I think it was Gary who came up with the idea of "playing a trick" on Lori while she was sleeping.  We ratted her hair with a hair brush from the "bathroom bag" and made it stick way out.  We then found some hair spray and sprayed the new due.  I don't think that we thought that she would sleep through the whole adventure in hair styling, but she did.  When it came time to stop at a restaurant for dinner, however, she soon realized that something was different with her hair and began to fuss ... loud.   We were in trouble and it took my mom a long time to get all the tangles out. Shot Gun When we lived in the barn my brother Gary decided to see what would happen if he surprised an unsuspecting bicycle rider.   We had a window on the front of the barn, directly across from a door that looked out to the back acre.    My father had a shotgun that Gary had found some shells to.   He waited till he could see the cyclist appear in the front window, and then BAMM! ... he fired the shotgun out the back door.   The boy on the bicycle was so surprised he fell over.  We hid.  Laddy and Lady I am not sure exactly when we got Laddy.  He was a collie mix.  He would run along with me when I would ride around on my black Schwin bicycle.  He also liked going to the cemetery to catch birds.  When the family would take off (in our old Volkswagon van), he would run along side of the van for a block or so before returning home.  One day when we got home Laddy was gone.  In was not unusual for him to be gone for a day or two, so we thought nothing of it.  a couple of days, however, turned into a couple of weeks ... and still no Laddy.   After a while my dad decided we should get another dog.  Since we all liked Laddy, we got another collie (this time a female dog) and named her Lady.   We all liked Lady.  She stayed around the barn better than Laddy did.   I was beginning to forget exactly what Laddy looked like.   One day while we were on our way to the YMCA, for our weekly shower and swim, a dog started running along side of the van just like Laddy use to do.  The dog was a collie, but for some reason he looked different than what I remembered Laddy looking like.  My dad was certain, however, that this was Laddy, our lost dog.  He pulled over to the side of the road as the dog came running up.  Everyone jumped out of the van yelling "Laddy ... Laddy!"  The dog was jumping up and down as a boy on a bicycle came riding up behind him.   My dad asked him if it was his dog. The boy said that the dog showed up about a month ago and he has been taking care of him ever since. He said the dog didn't have a collar so he didn't know who to call.  My dad told the boy that this was "Laddy". The boy said "I was just calling him "Boy". It all seemed a bit awkward.   Laddy had disappeared (long enough for me to forget what he looked like) and we were now reunited, although we had replaced Laddy with a new dog. What would happen now?  Would the boy keep Laddy, or would we?   After all, this boy only had this one dog, and it appeared that he had grown attached to him. The questions rushed through my head, but no one seemed to ask them. Laddy was the one who decided.  He was happy to see us (jumping up and down and licking everyone) and paid no attention to his recent caretaker. Laddy jumped into the van and I believe that my dad gave the boy some money, for the dog food and taking "such good care" of Laddy. The van was filled with squeals and yells "Laddy ... Laddy!"  I looked out the window at the boy standing alone with his bicycle, as we drove away, and felt a little sad. Now we had two collies, Laddy and Lady. Over the next couple of years we would have many more collies.  Laddy and Lady produced ten or so puppies a litter.  There were always people who wanted our collie mix puppies. By the Time This is Read  ... My brother Gregory often produced a bit more drama for my parents than the rest of us. He wasn't a bad kid; just not a easy going as the rest of us. I don't remember him smiling and laughing, making jokes and being kind.  He was often aloof and not as easy to get to know (a lest for me - his little brother). I think he and my dad were having some difficulties, and Greg was facing some big choices. I think is was in 1970 when my mom found this note: This was during the Vietnam War; there was a draft, and Gregory has disappeared. Our Church, at the time, did not believe in going to war, and instead encouraged the young 18 year old men to be "conscientious objectors" who usually did 2 to 4 years of alternative service instead.  However, there were those whose request was denied, and they had gone to prison. I at first had thought he would return in a day or two.  But days turned to weeks and weeks to months. I remember my mother consoling me as I cried because I missed my brother. It seemed a bit strange to have such a strong feeling about missing someone that I didn't even thought that I knew that well. But, he was my brother, and he was gone. I believe that after a period of time my folks received word that he was "back east" at our Aunt and Uncle's house. If I remember correctly, he left New Hampshire, and headed west. He did not come home, however. Instead he headed to San Francisco, where there were still hippies from the "Summer of Love".  It seemed like a year or more before he came back home. He arrived wearing boots, a scarf around his neck and long hair.  He told us of a story, where he had gone into a club in San Francisco, and all eyes were on him when he walked into the room. the place was quite as he walked over to a girl and gave her the tambourine that he was carrying. I could picture it all in my head; what an adventure! It didn't seem like it was long, however, before he had a haircut, was wearing regular clothes, had gone before the draft board, and was soon doing a couple of years of alternative service as a "Conscientious Objector" at the Goodwill in Portland, Oregon. Apparently one of the requirements of the alternative service was that is had to be at least 50 miles from your home. Rainier Aluminum About this time, my dad opened up an aluminum shop, "Rainier Aluminum Products Co." It was located on the highway that headed towards Enumclaw ant Mount Rainier. He sold aluminum awnings and lawn furniture, and basically ANYTHING that was made from aluminum. Aluminum was a new thing and my dad thought it was the product of the future. Unfortunately, the majority of people did not like using this lightweight medal preferring old fashioned wood products. It did not end up being the phenomena that he believed it would be.   Tina Layos  During the time that my brother Gregory was gone, I had a real crush on the prettiest girl in the eighth grade, and I wrote my first song when I was in the eighth grade about Tina Layos.  It was called "Thinking of You".           I wrote the song on a sheet of the front and back of a page of my dad's aluminum store stationary I believe that I was in the eighth grade.  I had a "Crafts" class that I had made a heart necklace in (as one of our assignments).  I had given it to Tina, and she accepted it.  Tina was just 4'10" tall, but she was the prettiest girl at school.  She asked me a day or two later if that meant that we were "going together".  I wasn't sure exactly how to respond.  I really liked her, but I was a kid who lived in a barn.  We didn't even have indoor plumbing.  I certainly wasn't going to ask her to my house and most of the events that she would go to were on Friday nights and Saturdays ... days that I was unable to do anything on, due to my religious beliefs.  But I said, "Yes." so, we were "going together". I would get off at her bus stop to walk her home every day, and then walk about a mile to West Hill, and then about another two miles home to the barn. I would go to my room and draw pictures and write out her name over and over. This relationship was a short-lived one; maybe just a couple of months.  One day she wanted to return the necklace to me saying, "We never do anything"  I told her that I understood, but to please keep the necklace. Doing Dishes It would take us several hours to do the dishes at night.  Part of the reason for that was that there were a lot of dishes (with a family of nine).  But mostly it took so long because we would get distracted or just move slowly. The Green Hornet There was part of an old Model A or T on the front side of the barn.   It was old and rusty.  I decided to "fix it up".   I took a some lime green paint that we had and painted the whole thing.  I also had some masking tape that I use on the front of the car to form the letters : GREEN HORNET. My dad thought that I had done a good job. A couple of people stopped by asking if they could buy the old wreck, but my dad told them "No, that's Ricky's car". Eventually, when my interest went to other things, my dad did sell the car to someone who came by to enquire about it. Moving the Barn Sometimes things are not always the way they seem.  When my dad bought the barn,  the property lines seemed to go through our neighbors (the Womack's) garage. My dad was not too concerned about that, but DID ask if he could store a couple of tools in the shed. It was decided to have a professional surveyor determine where the boundary line was between the two properties. When the surveying was complete they discovered that the property line actually was further onto our property than our neighbors.  In fact the line went through the end of our barn (that we were living in). My dad was all for redrawing the lines (with some swaps) so both parties would be satisfied, but for some reason Mrs. Womack wanted to keep the portion of land that the end of the barn was on (probably because it was on the street, and she considered it more valuable). So ... she was insistent that the end of our barn was on HER property and had to be removed.   There were two options ... tear it down or move it. My dad said O.K. We'll move it.   The first chore was to dig under the barn so we could put it up on supports. I think my brother Gary ended up with the bulk of this job. I 'm not sure if my dad paid him, or if it was just something that he was expected to do, but I think he worked for most of that summer on the task. When he was done there three or four stacks of rail road ties under each side of the barn and a few stacks in the direction of we were moving the barn.  Round pole were placed on top of the ties (just under the barn) so the barn would role forward. My dad hire a man with a winch and he pulled the barn with a long cable.  As a pole would drop from the rail road tie we would put it at the other end of the tie till it reached it's final resting spot (about 20 feet from the starting place).     I Touched You Last! The boys bedroom was up in the loft. There was a ladder to the loft that we would run up and down without using our hands. We were so use to it that it was as easy as going up and down stairs. There was a long beam that ran the width of the barn (20') and cardboard was attached to serve as a wall. It was not attached along the bottom, and one day when Lori was up in the loft we were playing "I touched you last".  Lori touched one of us and said "I touched you last", as she stepped back. the cardboard flapped open and she fell down into the living room partially landing on a lamp.  Although she was the winner of the "I touched you last" game, she also was on crutches for a couple of weeks, and we were in trouble. Also at that same time, my dad while stepping out of the kitchen door somehow badly twisted his ankle. That Sabbath they both arrived at services using crutches. All Good Things Come From Heaven The boys had a dirty clothes basket upstairs that we put the dirty laundry into.  When my mom was ready to go to the laundry-mat we would shove the basket against the cardboard wall and PLOP! it would fall to the living-room below.  One laundry day I shoved the basket over the ledge just as my dad was coming out of his bedroom.  It landed right in front of him.  I froze and was sure I was going to be in trouble.  I though my dad would turn around and look up to see who had dropped this missile, and admonish me to be more careful and pay attention!  Instead he just paused and without turning or looking up he said, "All good things come from heaven." and continued to the kitchen.     Corrugated Bricks Some store was getting rid of there Christmas decorations, and discarded a roll of corrugated paper (cardboard) with a red brick pattern on it.  it was enough to cover an entire wall of the kitchen.  It looked good and my mom liked it. The Truck During the time that we were living in the barn, our family vehicle was a panel body truck like the one pictured below (except ours was red). Dad and mom were in the seats up front, and there was a picnic table (and benches) in the back that the rest of us sat around.  I believe that this picnic table was our dinning room table except on Saturday when it would be loaded in the back of the truck and became our seats for our hour long trip to Seattle when we would travel to church on highway 99. This was obviously before cars had seatbelts.  When the entire family was in the truck (all nine of us) our baby sister (Donna) rode in a cradle that was placed between the two truck seats up front. Frozen Milk It was a cold winter.  So cold that my dad decided to put up a curtain between the kitchen and the living room, in an attempt to keep our main living area a bit warmer.  During this time someone had forgotten to put the milk back in the refrigerator after pouring themselves a glass full.  The milk froze solid in the jar, and we had to put it back into the refrigerator to thaw it out. Books of the Bible Friday night at dinner or Saturday afternoon, after our Sabbath lunch, my dad would often have us recite the ten commandments, or the books of the Bible, starting with the person to his side reciting number one and the next person reciting number two, as we continued to go around the circle till we completed the list. The start of the list was always much easier than when we reached the prophets like Habakkuk and Zephaniah. Want to Get all Fired UP? Our Grandpa Richardson came to visit us one year when we were in the barn. Grandpa was smoking a cigarette (as he often did) when one of the "little girls" (I think it was Donna) asked, "Grandpa, why do you smoke? ... Goethals don't smoke ... God doesn't smoke ...  Do you want to get all fired up?" The church believed that smoking was a sin, and as such being "fired up" was not a reference to fire from the cigarette, but from a much hotter and permanent place.  Grandpa's response was to cough and mutter something that none of us could understand. An Unexcused Absence I grew up a bit different from most other kids.  When the rest of the class was having holiday parties I would be excused to the library, and when the Jewish holidays came, I would request to have the days off (usually as an unexcused absence, not recognized as a legitimate reason to be absent from school). I remember when I was in the seventh grade my brother (Steve) and I where sent to the vice principal's office for bringing a request into the attendance office, asking for two weeks off in order to attend "The Feast of Tabernacles".  Although the feast itself, was only a week long it was generally quite a distance to drive; so it was a couple of days there and a couple coming back. There were several feast sites across the country and each site had thousands of people). We each had our note that read something like :  "Please excuse Ricky from Monday Oct 16th through Friday Oct 27th, to attend a religious convention". The vice principal treated us like we had done something wrong, and told us that our request would not be approved. We were already quite self-conscious about being different from everyone else, and being grilled about our beliefs made us all the more uncomfortable. We were, after all, just kids.   I had a music class that I had all "A"s in.  However, because I had taken two weeks off to attend a religious festival, I received an "F" on my quarter report card. The reason given (on the report card) for the grade was unsatisfactory attendance.  Those two weeks were the only days that I had missed that quarter. I continued to get "A"s in the class, so I was able to pull my semester grade up to a "C".  I had a friend who was in the same class.  He also was gone for two weeks. However, he was on a hunting trip and that was considered to be an excused absence and mine (for a religious observance) was not. He got a "B" on his report card (his grades were not usually as high as mine). This intolerance of religious differences would not be legal today. In the 60's, however, there was much less acceptance of different religious beliefs.   Moon Landing We were living in the barn the year that the first man walked on the moon.  I remember watching the TV news every evening. When we landed on the moon, my dad said with excitement, "We landed on the moon ... we really landed on the moon. It didn't seem so unreal to us kids.  We thought, "Of course we landed on the moon."  But to my dad (who grew up with horse drawn carriages) landing on the moon was an unbelievable accomplishment. It made us stop and think how remarkable it all was.   We Can Get a Letter! Rob Rhea and I had a friend, Ross Elder, who had a letterman's jacket with a big school letter "C" on it. We were in the ninth grade at Cascade Junior High. Ross wasn't an athlete ... so, how did he have a letterman's jacket (lettering in several sports).  He was the Team Manager.  It really sounds a lot more important than it is. In junior high school a manager basically hauls all of the equipment out before practice, and hauls everything back after practice.  ... but does nothing during the hour or two that practice is going on. Rob and I were both in photography class together, and he thought this would be the perfect thing!  We signed up to be the managers of the baseball team. Before practice we would haul everything out to the baseball field, then spend the next hour or so taking pictures for our photography class, before hauling all of the equipment back to the locker room after practice was over.  It worked out perfect for having time for photography. Most of the time we would walk across the street to the woods where there was much more interesting things to take pictures of.  We seldom took any pictures of the baseball practice. One day when we were headed back to the baseball field everybody was rushing over to the high jump where the track guys were.  We started to head over and we were told to stay back as we soon heard the siren of an ambulance.  One of the baseball players had snuck over to the high jump, to jump over the high jump bar.  Something went wrong and when he landed he was hurt and couldn't get up. The ambulance came and after a bit of time they loaded him into the ambulance and drove away. He was out for the rest of the school year. In the fall he came back to school in a wheelchair. He was still in the wheelchair when we graduated from high school. He had broken his neck and would never walk again. At the end of the baseball season Rob and I got our Cascade Junior High letter. I never got a letterman's jacket or even displayed my letter.  I didn't want anyone asking about it.  Earlier in the season I had told my new girlfriend (Rita Graves) about something that happened at baseball practice. She got excited about me being on the junior high baseball team and wondered what position I played. It was kind of embarrassing explaining that I didn't really play on the team, I just hauled equipment around. Rita Graves I was in the 9th grade and there was a girl at church that I was attracted to (we were attending the Tacoma church at the time). I would perform songs at the church talent shows and I was beginning to write my own songs. She played piano, and had a nice singing voice. We began to hang around each other as often as we could. I was thinking about her in my spare time, although I would only be able to see her in the hour each week after Sabbath service. Back then almost all phone calls outside of a small town, was a long distance call, and I would wait each week for the Sabbath to arrive because it would be the day that I would see Rita again.    Too Much Wine I have never been much of a wine drinker ... or a drinker of ANY alcoholic beverages.  Basically, I just didn't care for the taste.  One day however, when we were over at the Corless's house, Mrs. Corless asked me and Rocky Corless to fill up some wine bottles with the strawberry wine they had made from strawberry syrup.  It was a very sweet wine (more like soda pop) and tasted good.  We would fill up a bottle and have a glass for ourselves, then fill up another bottle and have another glass.  after filling up several bottles we began to giggle.  We kept filling bottles, having a glassful and laughing.  I had an uncontrollable grin on my face and felt like the room was beginning to spin.  Mrs. Corless finally noticed us and said she thought we were tipsy from drinking too much wine.  My mom responded by saying "No, Ricky doesn't like wine." My Brothers I was always trying to be as good as my brothers at something. They were very talented and I never really achieved the perfection that they had, but I would try.  My brother Gary was the musical genius of the family. He was the one to teach us all of the harmony parts to the songs that we would sing. He played guitar and had a great voice (and was always on key).  My voice was never as good as his, even when I was performing in concerts and recording in the studio all the time.  It was a struggle for me ... it was natural for him.  The same with art and photography.  My brother Gary is one of the most talented people that I know. My brother Gregory (Shomeir) has the same inventive ability that my dad had.  He is a mechanical engineer, and has a technical ability that I get lost even thinking about.  He knows how and why things work.  I am lucky if I know what button to push. My brother Steve was good at a lot of things.  He was the gardener (he could grow anything), the cook (mom would always have Steve make the pies), The potter (he was a fine craftsman in ceramics and threw a lot of wonderful pieces of pottery on the potters wheel), and he could sew.  My mom would always comment how good my brother Steve was at the things he did.  She never said that I did things poorly, there just wasn't that many things to compliment me on.  Bright Blue Pants One day my brother Steve decided to make himself a pair of pants.  He had already made a few shirts for himself.  He made a pair of brown corduroy patch-pocket pants.  They looked very professionally made.  My mom was very proud and told everybody about the pants that he made.   I decided that I was going to make pants too. I picked out some really bright blue material and began sewing away.   After some time I had completed my pair of pants, and I wore them to school ... once.  They were terrible. They didn't fit well, the color was painfully bright, and they looked like a beginner 4-H project.  I put them away in some box and kept them for a while (just because it was a major project for me to make the thing), but I never wore them again. "You're Getting the Hack ... Not Me" One day in the ninth grade I decided to take my friend's (Rob Rhea) book and hide it in the back cupboard when he wasn't looking.  I then went about my normal routine acting as if I knew nothing about his missing book.  He, however, perceived (accurately so) that I had been the one who had moved his book.  He insisted that I produce the book, and told the teacher that I had taken it.  I was about to give in and tell him where to find the book, when to my surprise the teacher said, "Both of you ... to the vice principal's office."  This was not a welcomed thing to hear, since it was the vice principal who administered swats to unruly students.  I was thinking that hiding Rob Rhea's book was not such a good idea, as he was saying to me, "You're the one getting the hack ... Not me."  I thought he was right, I had taken his book and hid it from him, and he had done nothing to me.  When we got to the vice principal's office he asked us why we were there, and Rob proceeded to tell the story of how I had hidden his book.  The vice principal listened to the story, and when Rob had finished he asked me to turn around and pick up the item on the second shelf.  There was only one thing on the second shelf a large wooden paddle.  He asked, "Do you know what that is?" I nodded my head without saying anything.  "Do you think I need to use it?" I managed to say weakly, "no."  Rob had a look of satisfaction on his face, as the vice principal called our classroom and began to talk to our teacher.  "Oh" the vice principal said, "I wasn't told that part of the story."  "What more was there to tell", I thought. "After all, I just hid a book."  I was convinced (by the parts of the conversation that I could hear) that I must be in big trouble.  As the vice principal finished his conversation with our teacher, I closed my eyes briefly and then opened them as he began to speak.  "Apparently" he said "It wasn't a hidden book that brought you here ... but the fact that someone (he said looking straight at Rob) was making such a fuss that your teacher couldn't begin her class!"  Rob's look of satisfaction was replaced with the fear that had been on my face throughout our visit.  "Now, both of you get back to class, and I don't want to see you in here again."  We quickly left the vice principal's office as I tried to assess what just happened and felt the relief of escaping swats from the big paddle on the second shelf. Three Day Hikes Every summer our church had a three-day hike for the men and boys.  We would all carry our clothes, camping gear, sleeping bag, and our assigned portion of food in back packs as we hiked up to some remote mountain lake in the Cascade or Olympic mountains.  a day worth of hiking usually got us to a pristine glacier fed lake.  Some of us would be brave enough to dive in for a swim.  One year I did this.  It was very cold.  It was so cold that I could not even breath until I was able to grab onto something.  One thing that we all tried to do was reduce the weight of our back packs, by choosing very carefully what we would bring.  One year Danny Lapeska was extremely proud of the fact that he was not bringing a heavy sleeping bag.  No, he was bringing a "space blanket".  It was a thin piece of material with a shiny silver reflective surface.  The theory was that the reflective surface would use your body heat to keep you warm all night.  Unfortunately it didn't work.  Danny had been up all night shivering until he couldn't take it any more and decided to wake me up.  "Hey, I think people are getting up, let's go to the main campfire ... They had a box burning when I left.", Danny said.  So I got out of my sleeping bag (still half asleep) and followed Danny to the campfire.  By the time that I got there I was fully awake.  I noticed that NO-ONE was at the campfire.  Danny went over and stirred the ashes that had been left from a box that HE had been burning in an attempt to keep warm.  I looked at my watch.  It was 2:00 in the morning and no one would be up for several hours. I think I got my sleeping bag and we wrapped it around us till morning.  The next night, me, Lance Cosgrove and Rocky Corless friend zipped all our sleeping bags together, and the four of us shared one big bag. I didn't get much sleep that night either. We were on a hill, and our sleeping quarters moved down the hill through the night. It was very uncomfortable. I think Danny discarded the "space blanket" when our hike was over. One year I was particularly proud of how light I had made my back pack.  I had just the bare essentials and I was not getting worn out at all.  I was keeping up with everyone and had plenty of energy. One of the boys, however, was having a lot of difficulty with his back pack. I don't remember his name.  I just remember him as being kind of a "nerdy" kid.  Some of the adults were discussing what should be done, when my dad said, "Ricky can carry it, They can just switch back packs". "Ricky's backpack is light!"   So, everyone thought that was a good idea (I was not asked for my opinion on the matter) and the switch was made.  The other boy's backpack was very heavy.  It wasn't until we were unloading the backpack (for the assigned food portions) that we realized why the pack was so heavy. The boy had packed a number of trucks and other heavy toys into his pack.  My dad said that he was proud that I had helped the other boy, and that we should always try to help others who are struggling.  It made me feel a little better, however, I was still annoyed with the boy who packed his backpack with toys. Lessons from the Shoe Shine Stand When I was in Junior High School my dad was the barber at SeaTac Airport.  It was during the Vietnam war, so the barber shop was very busy. During the day a black gentleman worked at the shoe shine station inside the barber shop, but after 5:00 pm (when he had gone home) my brother's and I had the opportunity to shine shoes.   So we would take turns taking the bus to the airport in the afternoon.  We would shine shoes for two or three hours and come home with our dad.  We could make about $30.00 a night, so as an eight grader I had much more money than I needed working just one day a week or so. My dad could talk to ANYONE, and everyone seemed to enjoy talking to him.  One day a couple of guys came into the barber shop to get their boots shined.  These guys obviously were not there for a haircut.  Their hair was longer than most people who came into the barber shop, and they were dressed a bit more "modern" too.  My dad asked them where they were heading to, and what they did for a living.  They said that they were in a band.  One of my brothers was working at the stand that night.  They seemed to really enjoy talking to dad.  He asked them what the name of the band was.  My dad enjoyed music, but was unfamiliar with any of the current rock bands of the time.  "Jefferson Airplane" they replied.  I am sure that my brother must have felt a rush going through him when he realized who's shoes he was shining.   My brother finished up.  They paid for the shine and gave my brother a tip, and they were gone.  "Guess whose shoes I shined", my brother exclaimed when he got home.  I wished I would have worked that night. The famous people whose shoes that I had shined were not nearly as "cool".  I shined the owner of Farrell's Ice Cream Parlors once.  My dad carried on a conversation with him and I realized ... this guy was RICH.  I did an extra good job, and was imagining the big tip that I would receive.  After all, army guys usually tipped a buck or so.  THIS guy was sure to give me a five or more!  When I was done with the shoe shine he gave me 60 cents (the price of the shoe shine) and then reached into his pocket and said "and this is for you".  He placed a dime in my hand and left the barber shop thinking that he had made my day.  It was the smallest tip of the night. I was making A LOT of money for a Jr. High kid in the 60's (when ever I worked). I was able to make more money than I knew what to do with (for a while). One of the things I liked doing is rolling quarters down the hall and see people scrambling after them.  I never saved any money, because I believed that I could always go to work with my dad and make more.  I became interested in photography around this time, and so I finally had something to save for.  I wanted a professional SLR camera.  The problem was, the Vietnam war was ending and all the soldiers that use to fly in, stopped coming into Sea Tac.  In addition, the airport started major construction and fewer people were able to find the barber shop.  What use to take a week to earn was now taking a month to earn.  I thought of all the quarters that I had rolled down the hallways at school, and how easy it use to be to earn money (when I didn't know what to do with it).  Now I wanted to buy something and it took forever to make enough.   The construction at the airport soon effected business so much that my dad looked for (and got) other work.  No more shoe shining for the boys. Two Inches in a Week When I was in the eighth grade I grew two inches over spring break.  It was only one week and I had grown two inches.  I didn't realize this, however until I was getting ready for school and my pants were now shorter than they had been.  When I got to my locker at school, I was looking at a place two inches higher than before as I turned the lock's combination.  Everyone commented on how much taller I was, and I knew it was true because they all seemed shorter.  56th Avenue   ...   Sparkles When we moved out of the barn into our "new" home next door (on 56th), it was the first time that we lived in something that could be called "new".  Even though it was an older home that had been moved from the SeaTac Airport area, the basement was new construction.  There were two bed rooms in the downstairs area (basement), along with the laundry room and a family room.  My brother Gary had his own room, and my brother Steve and I shared a room.  My sister Lori had a little room next to the laundry area and the stairs.   We had a "popcorn" ceiling that had blown on.  This is a ceiling that I would NEVER have in a home that I was to approve of the construction.   HOWEVER, at the time, it gave me a lot of real good feelings.   Mainly because it had sparkles blown onto the ceiling as well, so every time I got up in the morning I would see the sun shine off of the sparkles on the ceiling.  After living in a barn and a very small older mobile home it was a very happy place to be. Sandy and the Stairs At our new home we had carpeted stairs going from the front door up to the main floor and down to the basement level.  Gary would place Sandy upside down on the stairs on her back.  She didn't know what to do because she felt like she would fall down if she moved so she would just be there calling for help till someone decided to help her.   After a few times at feeling stranded on the stairs she realized that she could scoot herself down to the bottom of the stairs where she could stand up and climb back up to the top of the stairs. The Bicycle Trip The summer between 9th grade and 10th grade my brother Steve, Randy Corless, and I, took a bicycle trip around the Olympic Peninsula. We packed up our back packs and tied our sleeping bags to our 10 speed bicycles and we were off.  The first day we went all of 30 miles and were worn out.  We camped under some bridge and started off the next day.  We had taken some food that we could eat along the way, but we also had some cash with us.  We started off on a Sunday morning, and I believe that we arrived back to the Corless's Home the next Sunday evening.  We could have gotten home a day earlier, but that was the Sabbath and we didn't travel on the Sabbath. In fact the evening before we were going to camp next to a drive in movie and watch the show from our sleeping bags until one of us realized that it was Friday and watching movies on the Sabbath was something that we didn't do, so we found a more serine campsite.  Randy had a portable radio on his bicycle and we would group together so we could listen.  The two popular songs on the radio were Paul McCartney's  "Uncle Albert / Admiral Haulsey" and Tommy James' "Draggin the Line".  I still think about peddling around the peninsula every time that I hear those songs.  Our last day of peddling was much easier than the first.  We traveled well over 100 miles on our last day. The Cross Country Team After our bicycle trip I was in a lot better shape. I, however, did not realize how much of a difference it had made until school had begun in the fall. I was in P.E. class and we were running around the field. To my amazement I was among the front few people as we ran. I wasn't sure why because it didn't seem like I was running as hard as I had last year in P.E. Running was now a lot easier. After the class the teacher told me that I should "turn out" for the Cross Country Team. I thought "Wow" what an unusual thing. I had always been one of the last guys chosen for a team, when dividing up the class, and now the P.E. teacher was asking ME to turn out for a sports team. I think I ran on the Cross Country Team for a month of so, before I concluded that I just didn't enjoy it enough to stay on the team. I had a lot of things that I loved to do, and I was taking up too much time on something that I really didn't love doing. Class Photos When I was in the 10th grade I remember the thought come to my mind that the school photos would be on the front counter of the classroom, and someone saying, "Hey, the pictures are here!"  I didn't think much about it at the time.  It was a random thought. When I got to my home room that day I was busy doing something at my desk when someone said "the pictures are here".  I had a rush of dejavu go through me, as I looked to the front of the room.  The pictures were not on the front counter.  They were on the teachers desk, next to the front counter.  This seemed odd to me if I was somehow seeing a glimpse of the future, why would there be variances like this?     The Egg Carton Studio After moving out of the barn, my two older brothers thought they would turn one of the bedrooms (in the barn) into a recording studio. The heard from somewhere, that you could use egg cartons as sound baffles; so, that's what they did. I had my friend, Rob Rhea, take a picture of me in the studio, playing a tambourine, and wearing headphones (cause that's what you do in a real studio) Wisdom When I was in high school, I heard a sermon about how God was pleased when Solomon didn't ask for riches, but asked for wisdom.  I figured that asking for wisdom would be a good thing for me to ask for too.  So, every night I asked God to give me wisdom.  My requests went on for months and months.  However, instead of getting "smarter", it seemed that I was getting "dumber".  The more that I prayed for wisdom, the more difficulty I seemed to encounter.  I was perplexed, so I confided in someone; explaining my dilemma. His answer was profound and yet simple. "Well, how do you think you get wisdom?" he asked. Since wisdom generally comes from being challenged and going through various experiences, God was giving me exactly what I had asked for.   I stopped praying for wisdom. Prayer was a lot tougher than it should have been. For me, in order to keep my mind focused, I find it best to do something as I pray.  Driving a car or going for a walk work well.  Or even a monotonous non-challenging job is a good environment for prayer. Death Other than a pet dying, I did not feel the impact of death till I was in high school.  One of the girls in my senior class committed suicide.   This seemed odd to me.  The girl was from a rich family (the kind of family that you would dream about being part of). They had a big house and a swimming pool.  One week she was there and the next week she was gone. Also, a friend of mine had died in a car accident.  His name was Jim Whale.  Whenever I would see him I would say, Look! There's a whale in the school"!  He played bass guitar, and him, Shorty Adamson and someone else on drums did a couple of dances and they had me sing the lead vocals.  They had an instrumental song that I put a melody and words to.  So it was written by the three of us,  Jim, Shorty, and me.  When Jim died his parents wanted us to sing the song that we had written at his funeral.  Shorty played guitar and I sang.  It was an uncomfortable thing to do. I didn't think much about dying when I was young, but I remember when I was in high school, wondering about suicide myself.  Things were not going well between me and Rita, and we were at some church camp-out.  I remember that there was a tall building that sat kind-of on a small cliff.   A doorway on the top level looked out to the long drop to the rocks below.  I was very depressed and looked out the doorway to the rocks below.  It seems almost as if I was considering jumping to say "so there".  I stood there for quite some time thinking about the jump.   What stopped me was not the fear of dying, but the fear of living.  What if it didn't work, and I survived, and lived the rest of my life as an invalid.  There was no guarantee of a successful suicide, therefore it would be a bad choice.  It seems very strange to think about reasoning through such a thing.  I am glad that I chose not to jump. The Church Family Fair Every Summer the church rented the Pierce County Fairgrounds for the "Family Fair". People did crafts and submitted baked goods, showed their animals and brought sewing projects to be judged. They gave out ribbons and everything! I decided to submit something that was just inappropriate enough to make people talk, but not enough to get me into trouble.  So, I submitted this as my "art". Apparently, I did not go far enough. No one said a word about my submission. However, I also did not get a ribbon. Pigs on the Loose One year my dad was in charge of the petting zoo. He thought it would be a neat idea to have a bunch of baby piglets. So, he visited a pig farm and made an arrangement to borrow (I think three or four) piglets for the weekend. So, early Sunday morning, my dad was driving down I-5 freeway on our way to the fair. The cage that the little pigs were in (in the back of my dad's pick-up truck) was not secure and the pigs got out they began to run all over the freeway. Luckily, there wasn't much traffic (being early Sunday morning) A fellow church member recognized my dad who was casing pigs on the freeway and stopped to help. It wasn't long before a police officer came upon the commotion and turned on his light to warn on-coming traffic about the loose pigs. After a while, all of the pigs were gathered together and were back in their cage. My dad thanked the officer for his help and the policeman said this would be an interesting report to turn in.  None of the pigs seemed to get hurt and the next day they were returned to the pig farm Church Dances My parents had a rule.  You had to dance with every girl at least once before you could dance with a girl a second time.   It didn't matter what the weight, personality or attractiveness of the girl was; my dad felt that "every girl deserved to have a least one dance".  So before I could dance with Rita a second time (or more), it was my dad's rule that I had to dance with all the other girls first. I would be counting them down (to myself of course) as I politely escorted them on and off of the dance floor. Every girl got to dance (at least with the Richardson boys).  I guess that it made an impression, because I was asked to escort no less than six girls to their proms. It was the early seventies and only ballroom dancing was done at our church dances; usually the fox trot.   We were at a wedding reception when I asked the minister's daughter (Theresa Goethals) to dance.  I asked her if she wanted to dance apart (modern dancing) she said she would, if I would.   So we did.   Most people didn't know what to think.   I think some of them were wondering if we would get hauled off the dance floor and talked to.  But it seemed to go without incident.  The next dance there was another couple or two who dared to join us, and by the end of the dance nearly everybody was dancing apart (even some of the parents).  From then on church dances had changed, although being the rebel that I am, when everyone else was ONLY doing "modern dance", I would still do a fox trot or swing every so often. When I was in high school, a few of us Lance Cosgrove, Danny Lapeska, Dale Stansberry and myself, decided to start a church rock band to play at the dances (rather than playing records).  You see the problem was, that many of the songs we liked would not be approved because of the lyrics.  If we played the music ourselves, we could change the lyrics, thereby passing through the censors.  So Bad Company's "Feel Like Making Love"  became "Feel Like Making Pies".  Danny Lapeska came up with that lyric change, and I thought it was perfect.  We made no effort to conceal the fact that we had changed the lyrics, in fact the more obvious it was the better.  Everyone was aware that the lyrics had been changed to get past the censors, so (since we thought the censorship was silly) we would make the changes as crazy as we could.  Our band was called Transomega, which means across the end, and I wrote a theme song that we would play (at the end of the dance).  Standing: Norman, Gordon, Dale, Lance and Danny me on the ground in front About the time we decided to form our band, a new kid started coming to church; Norman Edwards.  He went to the same high school that I went to (Auburn High).  However, we were in entirely different circles.  I was in art and music classes, and Norman was in math and science classes.  I believe that he was the president of "Math Club" and was on the chess team.  Norman had built his own synthesizer, and had an electric organ.            Lance on guitar, Me on drums, Gordon on Guitar              Me and Lance singing, Danny on drums, Dale in background Lance gave Norman the name "Norman Monster"  a take-off from Herman Munster (a TV character).  Norman also had a friend from school named Gordon.  Lance named him "Groady". Gordon played (or attempted to play) rhythm guitar.  He was often on the wrong chord or his guitar was out of tune (we never knew which).  So after we tested our instruments at the start of a dance, one of us had the job of being sure that Gordon's guitar couldn't be heard.  When Gordon would say that he couldn't hear his guitar, we would tell him, "It sounds great from out here".   I had a wonderful time reading your site, you remember so much more than I do and you are so willing to share information I have to admit I did laugh out loud!!   Esther Michaels is still one of my favorite songs of all time   I just love that song, once I hear it, it's in my head for days!  You always had such a skill at writing a great hook, plus that voice!!! jeez, dog whistles can't hit that high  I'm one of those people who think you just didn't get in front of the right person. You had such a skill! You should have got'n a major record deal Lance One night on we were all walking home from something.  Either that, or we stopped the car.  We were up on the east hill of Auburn heading to Norman's house.  Someone decided they wanted to "streak".   It was the 70's and streaking was happening at school assemblies and other public functions.  We didn't want to streak in front of anyone, but someone, (probably Lance) wanted to try it.  So we stripped down to just our tennis shoes and ran a few blocks down the road.  It was late at night so there was no one around.  There was a little breeze, and Danny said it made him feel "free".  We tried to get Norman to streak, but he would have nothing to do with it. Selah The Seattle church had an "official" church band (named "Selah") that played at most of the "church dances". Our band was the "garage band" that played at house parties or in the gym after a church basket ball game. The Rainbow Girls Most of the dances that we would play for were church dances, that we did free-of-charge (we just wanted to perform). However, on occasion we would get a "paying gig". I think Gordon landed a job with "The Rainbow Girls". I believe they were a girls group associated with the Masonic Temple. I think it was a Sunday evening dance that we would be getting $100.00 for doing. When we got to the hall, it seemed that it was a smaller group than what we were expecting. But, that was Okay; we set up and began the dance. Although the group was rather small, they seemed to having a good time. I had noticed that there was a pretty girl at the dance that did not appear to be with anyone, and was not dancing. Since my dad had always stressed that "every girl should have at least one dance", I considered it my obligation to ask her to dance. So, after the song that we were doing I pointed to her and asked her to come up to the stage; at which point I asked her to dance. I had a long microphone cord and we danced (a slow dance) with me singing the song as we danced. Dale (our drummer) thought that was a bold thing to do, and made a comment about being "stuck" behind his drum set. After the dance, when it came time to get paid, whatever band member had arranged the dance (I think it was Gordon) came up to me said "there was a problem" and wanted me to come talk with the organizers of the dance. Apparently they had already decided what would happen and our band member just wanted me to break the news to the rest of the band. They said that another chapter of "The Rainbows Girls" scheduled a dance on the same night and everybody went there instead (that is why the crowd was so small). Therefore they could not pay us the $100.00. They would only be able to pay us $5.00. I wasn't sure how to respond ... $5.00? But, as it seemed the decision had already been made and they said they were very sorry, as they handed someone the $5.00. By the time I got back to the other band members, they had already heard the news. Dale was upset and was kind of throwing things together as he tore down his drum set. "We're only getting five dollars a piece" he said. "No we're not" "Yes, that's what they said"  "No, we're getting $5.00 for the whole band!" At that point Dale just fell to the ground laughing. We both began to laugh so hard our eyes watered. Dale said "That's just 89 cents a piece!" We had 6 band members so it was actually just 83 cents a piece. Feeling Good How are you?  It's a question that we all ask each other, seldom really wanting much more of a response than a simple "fine". Sometimes it is easier to focus on the things in our lives that don't go well. The hard times, the aches and pains, the difficulties at times seem to be overpowering. And yet if we want to, we have the ability to choose how we feel.   It is the wonderful thing about free-will. We can be in control (if we want to be).  Even when we are sick and in pain.  I remember learning this lesson while I was still living at my mom's home.  I was sick.  I remember feeling just terrible, I thought how terrible it was to feel terrible, which for some reason was funny to me.  I was in pain (throwing up in the kitchen sink) and laughing at the same time. Feeling good isn't just about having no pains.  Nor is it about being trouble free. I think that feeling good is about being in control of your emotional state, even when you are suffering.  It's being able to smile and laugh, just because you can. Drama Although I wasn't one of the drama geeks, I liked to act.  The drama department always had people who hung around the "Little Theater" all day. Outside of drama class and performing in the school productions I wouldn't hang out there. I would more likely be in a darkroom somewhere, in the music room, or the ceramics room. I never really understood the drama geeks. They would spend hours "getting into character". I didn't get it, nor did I have time to figure out what it meant. The picture below is from a Shakespeare production.  The make-up people insisted on putting WAY too much make-up on me (even eye shadow) they insisted that I needed to have the make up under the bright lights. I thought that it made me look to much like a girl.  So, to make my point, I borrowed my fellow actor's nun outfit and went into the drama office.  I stood there for a minute before the instructors acknowledged me, wondering who I was.  I said "Don't you think this much make-up, makes me look too much like a girl?   What could they say. They had indeed thought I was a girl.  They instructed the make-up people to "tone it down on Rick's make-up". I always thought it would be cool being an actor, but I never really had the time to pursue it. I guess I was Okay at it. I had lead roles at times both in high school and college. "Forgotten" Rob and I both submitted photos into a photography contest. This is the photo that I submitted. I called it "Forgotten". There was an old shed that Rob and I came across that had a bunch of "old stuff" in it. I staged the photo. We did not come across the items this way. However, they were all in the little shed.  Rob submitted a picture that made a very neat pattern of shadows. Rob was one of the winners of the contest, and I got an honorable mention.     Getting my Third Class Radio-Telephone License In 1970, after his two year stint at the Portland Goodwill (to replace military service) my brother, Gregory, started going to Bates Technical College in Tacoma for Television Broadcasting. One of the main objective of the course was to get your First Class FCC License. I found out that to be a DJ you needed to have a "Third Class" license, and to get your license, you need to take an exam at the FCC office in Seattle, and pay the license fee of a few dollars. Since my brother had the study materials for taking the FCC test, I started studying. I was 16 years and in the 10th grade. The Third Class License was not too hard to get; the test was more general information, like how to take the meter readings and what to do if there is some type of broadcast emergency. The Second and First Class License, however, had a lot of math.  Back then, nobody had calculators; everything was done on a "slide rule". I had to take part of the day off from school, to go to Seattle (during business hours) to the FCC office.  It was filled with people taking their test. Most of them must have been taking their First or Second Class test, because they all had their slide-rules out. The day was very warm, and there was no air conditioning, just a couple of fans blowing hot air around.  I think the license lasted for five years, because it was still valid when I got to college. Although by that time (1974) the "Third Class License" was   no longer required for a DJ; just a "Broadcast Endorsement", so there was no test to take, just a fee to paid. The Endorsement also expired after five years. However, when that expired (1979) even the Endorsement was not required. It was no longer license, but a permit, that there was not fee for, and it never expired. Today, the permit is not even required. Singing for Steve's Class When I was in the 10th grade I went to my brother Steve's choir class (along with my two older brothers) to sing some songs.  I guess Steve had told the choir teacher, Gary Allen, about our musical family, and he invited us to come to his class to perform.  We sang some old Mills Brothers songs along with some Crosby Stills and Nash and a few 60's songs thrown in there.  It was fun.  They turned the lights down and we performed like it was a concert.  It was a very nice group of students, who all applauded us.  Afterword Mr. Allen asked me why I wasn't in choir.  I forget what my response was, but the simple fact was, I thought it would be a bit boring.  He suggested that I join the vocal ensemble class the next year (it was a small group that also featured soloist).  It was not a bunch of nerdy kids.  I signed up and for the next two years we had a music class that the popular kids wanted to join.  We did a "folk rock concert" and performed at community events.  In my Junior year I was asked to participate in The Second Annual Folk Rock Concert. It was a big success! I made the flyer (above) In my senior year we went to a competition.   Mr. Allen didn't sign us up for many competitions (in fact this was the only one) because they are usually on a Saturday, a day that I was unable to attend because of my religious beliefs.  It didn't bother me if I wasn't able to go to competition with the rest of the group, but Mr. Allen insisted that they would not perform in competition without me. I felt kind of like I was holding the rest of the class from going to competitions, but no one seemed to look at it that way. They seemed to feel the same way that Mr. Allen did. Chuck Buser's Advice Chuck Buser was a grade ahead of me and he was the one who put most of the parts together for the "folk rock" concerts.  It seemed like Chuck could play almost any instrument. He was voted "Most Talented" in his graduating class (1973). He gave me two pieces of advice. I did not take either one.  First he said that I should concentrate on my music and not have a girlfriend, because it would just be a distraction. He was probably right, but girls were too hard to ignore. Second, he told me that I would never make it in the music industry if I continued to observe the Sabbath (there were too many Friday night and Saturday gigs). This made me more determined to "make it" just because I was told that I couldn't.   Scat at Night The class was a lot of fun. We were singing a jazz number and I had a scat solo.  A scat solo is a free form solo that I would use my entire vocal range (including falsetto).  I liked to do unorthodox things, like pulling out a kazoo and using that in part of my scat.  Sometimes I would get pretty loud while practicing.  The week before the one competition that we went to, I had been practicing quite a bit and a day or two before the big day I had woken up in the middle of the night and began thinking about my scat solo.  Before I knew it, I was doing a full volume scat while lying in bed at 2:00 in the morning.    I suddenly realized that I must be waking up the neighbors (let alone everyone in our family).  I stopped and went back to sleep.  The next day, no one said a thing.  Student Center Wall Mural Between my Junior and Senior year I was asked to help in painting senior hall.  My section to do was the end of the hall that faced into the Student Center. I used a picture of Rita and I for the faces in the middle. It ended up having much more impact than I had expected (even being the school newspaper - The Troy Invoice - masthead). The Jazzband Dance My parents came to one of my high school Vocal Ensemble class concerts. It was the fall concert and we were performing with the Auburn High Jazz Band. They were really good. My dad was very impressed. He and my mom grew up in the "big band" era and they thought it was great. My dad was wondering if they could play for one of our church dances. Obviously I was not excited about the idea, but my dad decided he would go over to the band director and ask. The band director thought it would be a great idea for the band to have a "paying gig", and It would be a good experience. They would need to have about three hours of music to play. What better way to get the band practicing? As it turned out everything went very well. The church (of about 300 people) was meeting at the Gig Harbor Fisherman's Hall. It was an afternoon service, in January. So sunset was pretty early. A couple of the guys got to the hall early and were interesting in starting to set up. However, even though the church service was over, the sun had not set yet and it was still the Sabbath, so my dad simply let them know when they could start bringing things in (in about 15 minutes). All my fears of being embarrassed by a big group of my classmates coming to one of our church activities were unfounded. Everyone had a great time. When some of the band members were not performing on a particular song, they were out having fun on the dance floor dancing with all the kids, parents, and grandparents. It really worked out well for everybody. It ALSO worked out well for my little rock band. A lot of the parents would complain about the volume of the music, asking us to turn our amps down. However, the jazz band obviously couldn't "turn down" the trumpets or the other instruments, so the volume was pretty loud. After that, their were fewer demands on us to "turn down the volume". The Acceptance Letter Another time (a couple of years later) I had another random thought about receiving an admissions acceptance letter from Western Washington State University (where I had applied).  It was in an 8x10 manila envelope. Again I didn't give it much thought till I got home and checked the mail box.  I wasn't expecting the letter to be there, nor had I thought about it that much (other than that random thought) because I was leaning toward not attending that school.  As it turned out I did not go there, rather I attended Green River Community College (near home). At any rate ... when I got home and checked the mail box, there it was; the acceptance letter from Western Washington State University.  However, the envelope was white.  Again It seemed strange to kind-of get a glimpse of the future (with a twist). The Most Talented When I graduated I was voted as the "Most Talented" student (out of a class of over 500). I was told, by those who counted the votes, that I also received the most votes for "Friendliest". However, you could only get one "best of" award. So apparently the second friendliest person got that award. The most talented female was Karla Cruz. She was the head cheerleader, 1st chair violin in the orchestra, and sang with the jazz band. She was also a good friend. One night Karla, Rob Rhea (my best friend), Pat Smith (he played drums) and I decided to "camp out" in the cemetery one night. We rolled out our sleeping bags with all our heads in the center. The night was uneventful (no ghosts). Senior Prom / May 1974 For some reason Rita and I were on one of our off times when I reached graduation time, so I had no one to take to my Senior Prom. This was on a Saturday night (not a Friday night) so I was able to go after Sabbath was over. I learned that there was a girl in my vocal ensemble class (Lalani Starr) who also had no one to go with. My brother (Gregory) had made a white suit for himself. It did not fit that well on me, but since I couldn't afford renting a tux, it seemed like a good alternative. I did not feel like I did anything wrong on the "date", however, from that time on, Lalani avoided me.  I think that she just wanted to be sure that I didn't think senior prom was anything other than ONE date, or perhaps somebody had said something to her.  I never knew. A Letter of Recommendation The Communications Coordinator for the Auburn School District was kind enough to write me a letter of recommendation when I graduated from high school. June 7, 1974 To:  Whom It May Concern Re:  Letter of Recommendations Creative, thorough, hardworking, devoted and ambitious are attributes which best describe Rick Richardson. He is an individual who gives 100 percent at all times and sets practical goals which he pursued with an unselfish attitude. He is very much a people-oriented individual and utilizes his observations of the human condition in his cartooning and photography. I had the opportunity of working with Rick at Auburn Senior High School while serving as advisor of the Troy Invoice, the school's student newspaper. To my surprise, his abilities in cartooning and photography was above that normally anticipated at the college level. The newspaper business, be it in high school or professional, demands maximum effort and time from its practitioners.  It requires a special type of individual to perform with professionalism at the high school level -- Rick did so. Rick has also participated in several communications projects in the school district communications at my request. Recognizing his talent and professional attitude, allowed such assignment without any hesitation. After receiving descriptions of what was needed and when it was needed, Rick completed his assignments by deadline. He illustrated a 64-page high school registration catalogue, developed layouts for publications, and displayed professional proficiency in camera, darkroom and creative photography technique. Rick's position of responsibility with the student newspaper, as well as his development of an unselfish attitude and awareness of people and events around him, have cultivated his artistic ability. His performance and involvement were indeed commendable. His actions with students, faculty, and administrators, as well as with community members, testify to his maturity, ability and desire. Rick was also involved in music while attending schools in the Auburn School District. He sang many solos at concerts presented to the student body and community. He was selected as the most talented male in his class by fellow seniors. Rick was also the recipient of an award designating him as the most inspirational member of the student newspaper staff. Rick Richardson is a young man with a great sense of humor, a perceptive and pleasing personality and recognizable maturity. He is a super individual who will undoubtedly go far in his endeavors. Sincerely, Virgil R. Staiger Coordinator of Communications Auburn Public School District Auburn, Washington    Marla Graham After graduating from high school, I went down to Pasadena California to live with my brother, Gary.   I was 18 years old and couldn't wait to move out of my parents home.  It wasn't that it was that bad being at home, I just wanted to be on my own.  At the time that I left, Rita and I were not "together" and it seemed that I would be able to get my thoughts on something else (or someONE else). I had a certain amount of money that I was trying to stretch till I could get a job.  So I bought some food every week and portioned it out.  Each day I had the same breakfast; a bowl of corn flakes, the same lunch; a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with two cookies, and the same dinner; a piece of Banquet chicken along with some frozen corn that I heated up.   It was a hot summer and I remember taking two baths a day sometimes because I was so sweaty.   My brother had a girlfriend named Emma.  She lived a couple blocks away on Pleasant Street.   Emma's room-mate was Marla.  Marla was attracted to me much more than I was to her.  It isn't that I didn't think that she was a nice girl, a great person, and fun to be with, it's just that I couldn't stop thinking (or dreaming) about Rita. I felt like a scoundrel. How can you tell a girl about another girl that you can't stop thinking and dreaming about? I didn't want to lead her on, but I kept letting things go too far, and I kept thinking about Rita. I was in ... way over my head, and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't explain my feelings because I didn't understand them myself.   I just had to leave.  I left mid way through the summer (as I recall).  Marla moved up to the Seattle area a few months later.  She came to an activity where I was with Rita.  She was graceful, polite, friendly, and everything that a good person should be.  We talked, as good friends, and she went on with her life.  I never apologized and never explained (even though I desperately needed to). I did not treat her with the respect that she deserved. I should have been a better person. It is something that bothers me to this day.  "Pleasant Street" is a song written about Marla.   Pleasant Street The magnetic tape had deteriorated before I had made a digital copy of this song.  Click here for lyrics The WORST Concert ever The worst concert I have ever been to would have to be Gordon Lightfoot at the L.A. Forum in 1974. I was with Marla Graham, along with my brother Gary and his girlfriend Emma. The people that I went to the concert with were great. Gordon Lightfoot was awful! He was drunk. He would start a song and then stop, because he couldn't remember the words or chords (or whatever reason). He kept using the excuse of having been "partying all night". It was terrible. Gordon Lightfoot Green River Community College Counseling Classes I thought it would be a neat idea to take a counseling class.   You know ... learn all the techniques of talking to people.  The problem is ... it seems most people took the  counseling classes because they NEEDED counseling.   I learned one of the most important lessons of my life in that class.  Rita and I were having problems. She was claiming that we had a problem in our relationship. I thought everything was fine. I couldn't figure out what she thought the problem was. I brought up the situation in class (to see if the teacher had any ideas on how I could change Rita's thoughts). Instead the teacher asked "Are you Okay with your girlfriend feeling that way?" I thought to myself, "What a stupid question, of course I'm not okay with Rita feeling that way! The teacher said "then it is YOUR problem that is bothering you." We cannot control the way other people feel. We only have control of our OWN feelings. If we are having a problem with someone else, it is OUR problem, because WE are the ones in control of our own emotions.  At the time, I was totally unsatisfied with the answer. However, the more I thought about it the more profound his answer was. It was not until years later that I fully understood what he had told me.   However, over-all it was the most dysfunctional group of people that I had ever had a class with.  I decided not to take any more classes on counseling. Ceramics I had taken ceramics in High school and decided to do the same in college.   I was interested in making mugs and bowls that I could quickly mass produce and sell at craft sales and other earthy-type markets.   I had a teacher that did not like mass produced items.  He believed that your projects should be more one-of-a-kind creations, and always tried to impress the class by using much bigger words than he needed to while giving us our assignments. Green River Current I drew a cartoon strip called "Richy" for the college paper (the Green River Current) and was also a photographer.  I had a cartoon in each edition (every other week), and generally did a photo feature in every other issue (about once a month).  I had also done both when I was in High School for the Auburn High School newspaper (the Troy Invoice). "Richy" I began writing my cartoon strip "Richy" when I was in high school.  The Journalism instructor at Green River Community College wanted to recruit me for the college newspaper.  He asked his son, (who went to the same high school as I did) to have me contact him, but his son didn't feel comfortable with that, so I did not know that there was an interest in my cartoon strip until I showed up for class the first day of college.  To my surprise the instructor knew who I was, and welcomed me to the newspaper staff. It was kind of strange being treated like a celebrity on your first day of school. I drew my cartoon strip for the next two years for the college paper.  To see more cartoons:  Click Here Radio KGRG “Wow!” I thought, “You mean that I could be a DJ on the radio?” I had often pretended to be a DJ while collecting our two phonograph players and reel to reel tape recorder in my room as I put on my own private radio show. This, however, was a real 10 watt FM radio station. It was my first day of college at GRCC in the fall of 1974. There was a flyer in the Student Center that said they were looking for people to fill certain shifts on KGRG (the college radio station). I went to the radio station office and filled out some type of form, and I was told that I could have the 9:00 to 10:00 am slot. I would start tomorrow, just show up for my shift after my 8:00 class. I could hardly believe it. I was going to be “on the air”. It was hard to sleep that night. I had visions of being like the guy that I had seen behind the glass window earlier that day. It was a real radio station studio, with a real sound board, broadcasting over the air for a few miles from the college campus. After my first class, at 8:00, I showed up at the radio station to be "on the air" for the next hour.  I arrived at the studio and introduced myself, believing that this was the person who was going to train me how to be a D.J..  The person at the board said, "Alright, see you later."  I said, "What?! ... Who's going to show me what to do?"  The D.J. took at deep breath, then quickly pointed to all the controls and knobs saying what each one was for.  Then said, "O.K. here is how you cue the record"  He took about 15 more seconds to show me how it was done, and said, "I'm late for class".   He was gone as the record ended.  I was in a panic.  I looked down at the control board. on KGRG / GRCC / 1974 I looked at the turn table that was finishing up.   What control did he say to turn?  What button do I push? ... Dead Air .... then clunk  ... clunk ... clunk.  The record had finished and the needle was rubbing against the record label.   I remember!  I pushed the appropriate button and the next song started up.  I would have just over three minutes to figure out what all the controls were.  I pulled out some paper and began making little signs to put on everything. As I was finishing up my sign making job, the next song was ending.  "OH NO!" I had not cued the next record up and I had nothing to play.   I quickly put another 45 on the other turntable and dropped the needle at the outside edge of the record as it spun around.  I actually made a fairly smooth transition, EXCEPT for the fact that there had been an album on that turn table before and the songs was sounding r-e-a-l  s-l-o-o-o-o-w.  The hour dragged by with me doing everything possible wrong; two songs playing at once, cueing up a record (spinning it backwards) over the air (instead of "in cue"), dead air, leaving the microphone turned on during the song ...    I felt humiliated and KNEW that they would never allow me on the air again.  However, no one seemed to be paying much attention and when my hour was over, the next guy came in to take over as if the disaster that I had just created never happened.  I made sure to hang around the station BEFORE my next shift on air, so as not to repeat my last performance. My next show went much better, and after a short period of time I was feeling comfortable.  It was as fun as I had always thought it would be, as I created my own little "theatre of the mind".  I tried to understand and learn as much as I could about being a radio D.J. The 1975-1976 KGRG Staff Sitting In with Charlie Brown Paul Thompson, one of the guys on the Green River College station worked at KJR as an intern and he brought me with him one day and I had the privilege of sitting in with Charlie Brown (morning DJ on KJR). What a thrill to watch one of your heroes at work. It wasn't long before I moved up the ranks at the station and became Program Director, and eventually Station Manager. I really liked being Program Director. He was the person who put together the "playlist" of songs that we would play each week, and the "play-wheel" which determined when we played each song in the hour. He is also the one who usually decides on liners, promos, and anything else that would go on the air. When I was little (in the mid 60s) you would always hear of the DJ that "broke" the record (he was the first one to play the song). I determined that was what I wanted to do; start playing music before anyone else was playing it. So, I studied the charts, and listened to every single (45rpm) that came in, and a couple of other people on the staff, listened to all the LP (33rpm) cuts. Although we were just a little 10 watt college radio station, we soon found out that a couple of the big station Music Directors said that they listened to our little station to hear what new music we were playing. What a fun thing to find out! Marty Riemer, The Eighth Grader I was Program Director for KGRG and we had an eighth grader who lived nearby that wanted to be on the air.  Most of the staff was not in favor of the idea.  They all felt you should be a student at the college before having an air shift.  The station manager (Jim Willhight) asked me what I thought of the idea. I said when I was in the eighth grade I would have done anything to be on the air.  We made the decision (against the wishes of most of the rest of the staff) to let Marty have a shift.  within a short period of time I was the station manager and had to defend Marty quite a bit.  "He's an eighth grader" I would say in his defense (his judgment wasn't always the most adult).  He used the name "Carl Larson" as his on air name.  We told him that he should use his real name; Marty Riemer.   After my two years at Green River College, Marty was still there doing most of the "mobile dances".  The KGRG Mobile Dance unit started after I left, but I was responsible for it beginning. A couple of friends of mine, Linda Scott and Doug Simmons, got married.  They had their wedding at a place called "The Little Lake Wedding Ranch".  I brought some of the station equipment with me, and did the dance for the reception.  The wedding place apparently liked what we did because, they contacted the college and began to have them do reception dances on a regular basis.  Larry (Linsley) Lomax Larry and I both grew up in The World Wide Church of God, but he went to the Seattle church and I went to the Tacoma church.  So, even though we were aware of each other, we didn't really know each other. Larry seemed a little nerdy to me. It wasn't until we both ended up at Green River College that we got to know each other.  I think Larry started in the fall of 1975 (a year after me). As it turned out, Larry also loved radio, and had a great radio voice. Over the years there was never a time that we "hung out" together; we in in different circles. However, I am amazed at what a supportive and good friend he has been. Not only did he help me with a couple of record company contacts, he attended my wedding, guided me in my radio career, and attended my mother's funeral.  I think Larry went into radio, right out of college; it took me about ten years to get there. I don't know how we stayed in touch, but I would somehow find out where he was (he would be on different radio stations throughout the Northwest (Washington, Oregon and Idaho). At that time, his career seemed to be going places while I was trying to become a recording artist, buying studio time, playing at open mics and doing concerts. KGRG (Green River College) DJs Jack Young was the station manager for KGRG when it went "on the air" as a college FM station (in 1974).  He would later become sales manager for KBRD and KTAC.  Jim Willhight (who went on to form Willhight Radio Research [the small market Arbitron]) was the next station manager with Paul Thompson as program director (Paul went on to a number of stations including KVI and Star 101.5)  I took over as program director when Paul left (after just a month or two).  And when I became station manager, Larry Linsley ("Larry Love" who changed his radio name to "Larry Lomax") became program director, and then station manager.  So the short two years that I was on the college station we had a number of people who made their careers in radio. Jack Young (KBRD / KTAC) Jim Willhight (Willhight Radio Research) Paul Thompson (KVI / Star 101.5) Larry Lomax (stations throughout Oregon Idaho and Washington states  including KCIS) Marty Reimer (KJR and KMTT) and me Rick O'Brien (KIXI / KVI / KOMO and KOL)                          Larry Lomax                                                   Paul Thompson       Jim Willhight                          Marty Riemer Meteorology Class Us journalism majors decide to take Meteorology as a science class. I seemed like a class on being a "weatherman" seemed like a good thing to do. I am not sure how much I got out of the class. Someone would ask a question, and the professor would begin a long and complicated explanation. Then, he would reach a point when he would take a long pause and conclude by saying, "That's a good question." The main thing that I learned about predicting the weather is you can't do it!  All we can do is find out what the weather is like RIGHT NOW, and guess about what it may do over the next few hours. Archeology Class We had an archeology class where we would go to an actual "dig". It was located several miles away from the college (heading toward Enumclaw) There was a place where Mount Rainier had erupted hundreds (or maybe thousands) of years before.  The mud flow (a very hard layer of dirt) was thin at this point, because before the eruption it had been a hilltop. We were able to find many projectile points (arrowheads), primitive tools and at least one fire pit. Cars My first vehicle was a 1965 Volkswagen Beetle.  It broke down while I was driving it home for the first time.  I had to reconnect the fuel line.  Other cars were: red Flat head Rambler, MG Midget, 1956 (baby blue) International Pick-up, Ford Pick-up, Ford Pinto station wagon, black VW Beetle, VW van, Zepher, blue Honda Accord, white Honda civic, red Honda Accord, blue Datsan PU, tan Ford Tarus, red Mazda PU, red Chevy Corseca, black Ford, green Oldsmobile Intrege, white Chevy S-10, gray Dodge Dart, silver Mercury Sable   Rita Graves Rita was my girlfriend, off and on, for seven years (from junior high through community college). She was the world for me, but she didn't always feel exactly the same about me.  I wanted to fix it but couldn't.  Most of my real depressing songs (and a few up ones) are from this time.  Perfect Love, Still in Love With You, Junk store Alley, Avalanche, Alone, The Proposal, The Wedding Song, Before We Could Start, When Will I see You Again, Demon In Your Eyes, Love's Web, Holiday, You in L.A., Self Portraits, Sometimes, and Song For Rita are all song written to/about Rita.  Rita's Senior Prom / May 1976 I would dream about Rita, even when we were not together, and even years after I finally realized that it was all over. When I would have my arms around Rita I felt that I was "home". Rita was the one that I decided I was going to live the rest of my life with. That was my plan. I did not know how to process it, that when it became apparent that it was not going to happen. I was sure at that point that I would never find anyone else, and I would live the rest of my life alone. I did not think that feeling would happen more than once in a lifetime, and that was my one time.  I was just 22 years old when we were finally over (although things were over much earlier for her). I did not realize at the time, how selfish that I was. I was only thinking about MY feelings and what I wanted. I should have been more thankful about friendship and less anxious about a future that wasn't going to happen. Rita played keyboard (piano) and sang harmony at times when I would perform at an "open mic" night.  I had a picture of her in my MG.  Her parents liked me, and when she went through her "rebellious years" it seemed that I spent more time with her folks than she did. We very briefly formed a band we called "Prospect".  In fact it so brief that we only did a couple of open mics, and never even did ONE concert.   It consisted of myself, Rita, my brother Steve, and Donn Moyer (or Don Oliver ... his "on-air" name / he was a D.J. on KTAC).  It was a very strange situation that I was in.  Rita wanted security in a relationship.  A guy who spent most of his money buying recording studio time, and worked odd jobs so he could quit them quickly and travel to L.A. to visit record companies, wasn't the most secure relationship.  Yet, my music is what captured her attention.  I had to keep believing that I would "make it" because it would be the only way that WE would make it.  I spent a lot of time feeling trapped and alone. Rick Richardson's Coffee House I made a TV show (Rick Richardson's Coffee House) for one of my class projects (a film class).  The show aired on a Tacoma cable station that Donn Moyer's parents owned.   I created the sets, produced the show, played a couple of songs, had guests, did an interview, put together a comedy segment, and had it all timed out into a 25 minute show. The AHS Coffee House It was also about this time that I approached my old High School music teacher (Gary Allen) with an idea.   I told him that he could work with the Drama department and have a lunchtime performance once a month (called the Coffee House).   It would be in the "Little Theatre" and they could set up tables for people to eat their lunches.   Students who wanted to perform solo acts or small groups (but no classroom stuff) could perform.  In between the songs we could do short (Laugh-In or SNL type) comedy sketches (we could get the drama DEPARTMENT INVOLVED. All we would need was four or five songs. And you didn't need to be in a class in the music department or drama department to participate. He thought it was a good idea and said "When could you start?"  I told him that it was an idea that I thought HE should do. I didn't want to be in charge of a high school event. However, after some persuasion, I was at the high school every other week to work with the students. I talked with the drama department, and it was a go.  So for the next year or two I worked with high school students who wanted to do more than sing in the school choir. I did this for a couple of years, and it became a very popular event. The program was a big success and I was very proud of many of the students who performed.  Ink and Grease What is the WORST job you ever had?  Mine was working for the local newspaper in the "mailroom".  It was kind of a catch-all position.  Sometimes I would be sweeping the parking lot, sometimes janitorial, and sometimes "flying" the press.  You would stand as the folded papers would come off the press and through the "inserter" grouping the papers into stacks of (I believe) 25 or 50 so they could proceed to the "bundler" that would tie twine around each stack.  You were constantly looking out for a jammed paper then every one would lunge for a nearby red button that would stop the entire process so the jam could be cleared.  It was like a game show, with several people trying to push the button near them. It was monotonous work.  However nothing was as bad as the job of cleaning the press. You were to put on some cover-alls and climb up into the presses to clean them. By the end of the shift you were covered with grease and ink. The shower you took afterword just began to get some of the gunk off. You would be cleaning yourself for the next few days.  No one wanted the job, and one day they gave it to me. It was terrible and I decided that if they ever assigned me that task again I was going to quit. A couple of weeks latter that is exactly what happened. They called out "Richardson, clean the press". I went to the manager and told him that I had decided to quit. I left and never went back.  BEST Concerts Ever If I had to pick a "best" concert I would pick Wings Over America in 1976.  Paul McCartney performed in the Kingdome.  Now, most concerts that were hosted in the Kingdome were not that good, because of an inadequate sound system.  However, the sound system that Wings brought was massive.  The sound system, big screen, and special effects were all great. I went to the concert with Rob Rhea. If I remember right, he brought a girlfriend with him and I was a bit of a third wheel, but that was Okay it was a great concert.  We were in the 300 level (which was WAAAY up in the rafters) but everybody moved around once the concert got on the way. This was June 10th 1976. We were just completing our two years at GRCC, and would be going separate ways after that. Rob had been my best friend through junior high, high school and college. This would be about the last thing that we did together. Years later, after Rob found out that he was dying from cancer, he and his wife came over for lunch one Saturday. We talked about the old times, and told each other how fortunate we were to have had each other as friends.  The Syndicate Pitch My brother, Steve, had known Larry Ray when he was living in L.A.. I am not sure how they were introduced to each other, but when the Rays moved to Seattle, my parents invited them over for dinner. Larry had been a record producer (he had a couple of gold records hanging on the wall at his home) and had moved to Seattle to write a screenplay for a movie. Larry's wife was the daughter of actor Anthony Quinn. Larry was interested in what us kids were doing, and seemed to be particularly interested in my cartoon strip.  He asked me what I was planning to do with it. I said that although people seemed to like my strip, I didn't really know where to go with it.  He said that he thought it had a lot of potential and wanted to pitch it to the syndications. I said sure. Larry had become the president of Cinema Sound Corporation. They were planning to expand into different media directions, but at this point the prominent part of the business was high speed tape duplication. They had gotten the contract for the audio book recording of the NIV (a new version of the Bible) and had lots of orders to fill.  The company had become so busy they decided to add a second shift to run the tape duplicators.  My brother Steve and I were hired for that shift.  There were a lot of jobs, but mostly it was the NIV and Amway tapes that we were duplicating. Shaking the President's Hand I remember that we stayed around, one day after the shift, because President Ford was coming to town on a campaign stop and would be arriving at the pier on the waterfront of Seattle (that was just a couple of blocks from work). Steve and I went down to the pier and found what seemed like a good spot to wait at. As it turned out it was perfect. President Ford was coming right toward us. As he came closer, I put out my hand. He grabbed my hand for a handshake, and continued on waving and shaking as he went. One day a new bicycle (all boxed up) was delivered to the office for Larry's wife, and we were all looking at the senders name in awe (it was her father, Anthony Quinn of course). After working at Cinema Sound for a while, Larry talked to me saying that he got a good response from the syndicates. However, they said that my cartoon strip was too similar to "Funky Winkerbean" another cartoon strip. He said that the syndicate wanted to see something "different".  I was aware of the similarities in our cartooning styles. In fact, I avoided reading his strip, so people could not say I was copying anything from him.  I had started drawing my cartoon strip at least a year or two before "Funky Winkerbean" came out, so asking me to change my style so it wouldn't look like his, seemed a bit unfair. The main reason for this is that the similarities were more in the way we thought and our sense of humor.  I could immediately understand why he thought something that he drew was funny, even if other people "didn't get it".  I turned in a couple of "different" ideas and samples to Larry. But in the end just continued drawing "Richy". A year or so later my brother Steve asked me about my cartoons, and I told him that Larry had given up trying to pitch the cartoon.  He said, "That's strange, Larry says that you gave up." It is odd how we both thought that the other had been the one to "give up". I continued to draw the cartoon for about a year but eventually stopped as I concentrated more on writing songs. Gus Hall Gus was my best friend starting in my second year at Green River Community College.  He was a Kung Fu black belt (who studied under Bruce Lee), and his grandmother owned Fuji film. We met during the summer (after my first year at GRCC) in a program that used a select group of students to go around and promote the school.  We liked each other from the start, because we could make each other laugh ... we would laugh about just thinking of ways to make the other laugh.  It might be some practical joke or maybe we would just jump out from behind something and scream when the other wasn't expecting it.  When ever I did this to Gus he would always fall to the ground in surprise and we would both lie on the ground and continue laughing.  Things were not always going well with my girlfriend (Rita) at the time, and it was nice to have a friend that you could just laugh with. While I was working at Cinema Sound, Steve decided to move back to Ellensburg, and the company needed to replace him. They asked me if I knew anyone, who was looking for work and I said "sure", and asked Gus if he wanted to work there. He did, so we worked together there for a period of time. One day when Gus and I were going home from work we drove past a guy who was looking through a garbage can for food.  I was looking with a certain amount of discomfort, when Gus stopped the car. I wondered why he was stopping the car when he jumped out and gave the guy a couple of dollars and said, "Don't do that ... here get something to eat".  I was surprised ... and wondered why.   I was not surprised so much that there was a guy looking through a garbage can for food, nor was I surprised at Gus giving the guy a couple of dollars, but I was surprised when Gus stopped the car ... because I was not thinking about doing it myself ... and THAT troubled me. My MG While I was working at Cinema Sound, I had saved up some money for a car. Although I had cars before this point, they were usually old beat-up cars. I had a VW Beetle, an old Rambler, and a couple of other cars. However, I saw an MG Midget on a car lot, that I thought would be great to buy. I believe that I needed to take out a loan at the credit union that my parents used. It was for a few hundred dollars.  I bought the car and when I got home, My dad and I took it for a spin. He was much bigger than I was, so it was a little tighter for him behind the wheel. However, he had fun driving the car and told me that he had always wanted to buy a convertible. At the Davenport Hotel / October 1976 To Spokane on $2.75 "The Feast of Tabernacles" was in Spokane in 1976.  I had driven over in my MG Midget with Rita. It took $2.75 to drive across the state.  The MG only had a 6 gallon tank, and gas was only a little more than 40 cents a gallon. Although she had ridden over with me, Rita and I were not spending all our time together. During the week there was a talent show of sorts, at the Davenport Hotel, but I do not remember much more about the week. Sometime during the week, however, the transmission went out on my MG. Rita got a ride home to Tacoma with her folks, and I had to come back to Spokane in a week or so to haul my MG home with a pick-up truck. I had only had the car for a couple of months, and it wasn't even paid off yet. I was without a job and without a car. Combined Insurance Co. Elaine Scott had moved back the Seattle area. She got married to Cliff Craig while she was back east. And they were staying at our place. It was the winter of 76/77 and I needed to make some money. Cliff had gone through training to sell insurance, so I decided to try my hand at selling insurance as well. I did not enjoy it but I made enough money to get my MG running again. So after fixing my car, I quit my job (It felt good - I didn't really like selling insurance). The Streets of Jerusalem When I was in high school and college, I would get random thoughts about me (in the future) walking down the streets of Jerusalem doing something that I felt was important.  I wasn't sure exactly what I was doing there, nor did I know how I knew it was Jerusalem.  It just seemed like something that I would do.  I remember telling Rita, my girlfriend (at the time) about it.  Our church had a belief that at the "end of the age" there would be "Two Witnesses" in Jerusalem. I speculated to Rita, "Maybe I'm one of them, but I don't want the job." I was surprised at her response. I was expecting her to say "What a crazy thought" or "everybody believes there someone important". Instead she said, "If God wants you to do something, you will have to do it.  Again it seemed odd, and I did not know why I felt so sure that I would be there.  I had no ambitions to move, spend time in or even visit Jerusalem.  I just wanted to be a recording artist.  I didn't give it a whole lot of thought till about 25 years later, when I would be a frequent visitor to the city. I guess I had always thought that everyone experiences random thoughts that give you glimpses into the future, and maybe (to a certain extent) everyone does.  I don't know. Barry Manilow I took Rita to a Barry Manilow concert in Seattle at the Paramount Theater. We had balcony seats that were perfect. there was a platform that went out from the stage. When he walked out to the audience it seemed like he was just a few feet away. Space Needle Rita had mentioned that she thought going to the space needle to eat would be nice. Things were not going well (from my perspective) with our relationship, and I thought this might seem romantic enough to "fix" things.  It did not work. We went up to Seattle to the Space Needle on a Friday night. It seems like there was a bit of a wait, and when we did get in it was pretty expensive and they hardly put anything on your plate! because there was so little to eat, it didn't take long, and it seemed like they were anxious for you to leave. I had wanted to talk (to make things better) but it wasn't a very easy place to do that. I wanted to stay for a bit in Seattle - maybe walk for a bit so we could talk, but Rita wanted to go home. We had taken Rita's car (probably because my MG wasn't working) so Rita got in, and as I was trying to convince her to stay and talk, she drove off, leaving me standing on the curb.  I thought she might turn back around and pick me up, so I waited there for a bit. It was late and there were no more buses running, so I walked for several hours until the first buses in the morning began to run again. I caught a bus going to Federal Way and then walked the rest of the way home. My parents must have known when I got home because my mom quietly came into my room to wake for church, and when I said that I was not going she didn't ask me anything. I had walked all night and was exhausted. I was very depressed for the next few days and when my mom sat down to talk with me I broke down crying. I asked my mom if she could talk to Rita. She looked at me as if to say, "What am I going to say to her?", but after looking at me for a moment she said that she would. After the talk, she told me what I already knew. Rita thought that I was a good friend, but wasn't ready for any commitments. So I decided to focus on writing and performing my songs. Concerts and Studios I began to do a number of concerts.  Before each concert I would submit a news release to the paper along with a publicity photo.  Always submit a photo with a press release, because news papers often a looking for "filler" on the entertainment page.  and a good photo will often get placed, even though you're not that famous of a person.  Along with submitting my photos to newspapers, I would print up 8x10 or 11x17 posters/flyers.  I would place them in the big shopping malls, on college and city bulletin boards, and anywhere else that I could get permission.   I can't quite remember what event this was, but it looks like my brother Steve and I are singing with Lance Cosgrove and his cousin in Pasadena, CA The Other Side of the Tracks Every few months I did a Saturday night concert at "The Other Side of the Tracks" in Auburn.  It was sponsored by Victory Music (which featured "open mic" nights on Tuesdays every week).  I also went to the open mics as often as I could.  It gave me the opportunity to perform the songs that I had just written and get immediate feedback.        One of my concerts at "The Other Side of the Tracks" Donn Moyer is playing bass and Danny Lapeska is playing guitar. Do I Know You? One day when I was at the mall, someone stopped and and asked me where they knew me from.   I thought for a moment, and could figure it out.  We shrugged our shoulders and went our separate ways and I continued my shopping.  as I went around the corner I came across a wall that had several of my posters on it, promoting my next concert. It then hit me that maybe having my picture in the newspapers and on posters that I had put up all over town, might just cause someone to recognize me. I just never thought of myself as someone people would recognize. Terry Miller I think the first time I met Terry Miller is when my folks had invited him and his wife (Beth) over for dinner. After dinner we all began to share music.  I played a couple of songs that I had written, and Terry thought that I should go to a Recording Studio and record them. He told me that he had discovered a little Recording Studio in West Seattle (Applewood Studio). He said that the owner was a real good engineer, and the price was just $50.00 an hour. Terry thought that we could get a couple of my songs done in about three hours. The cool thing is Terry said that he would help me with the producing. So we made plans to record. I brought along Russel Bennett (he was a few years younger than I was, and played cello).  I was planning to record "Wedding Song" and "Before We Could Start". When we got to the studio, I explained how I wanted "Wedding Song" to sound, and Terry began to lay down some tracks (beginning with piano) I think I probably recorded a vocal reference track at the same time. "Wedding Song" ended up being just what I had "heard" in my head. "Before We Could Start", however, was nothing like what I heard in my head. I didn't like the way it came out , but I never re-recorded it.  Sunday, June 5,1977 - First Recording Studio Session Applewood Studio / West Seattle     Wedding Song  Before We Could Start The Day Camp I think that it was at our first recording session that I had said something about needing a job, because I wanted to book more studio time. Terry said that he was working for a day camp in Kirkland, and thought that they would be interested in hiring another person. I went to apply for the job (Terry had given me a good recommendation) and I started working the next day or so. We had "music time" a few times a day, along with playing our guitars and singing as we went on field trips. I remember taking the kids to Juanita Beach. And while they were playing and swimming in the water (being watched by the lifeguards) we were sitting on our beach blanket playing and singing BTO's "Takin' Care of Business". The kids liked my "racecar" (my MG Midget). I had a picture of Rita in the car that the kids called "beautiful". Second Recording Session I believe that I did this recording session in the summer or fall of 1977. I was still working at the day camp with Terry Miller. Rita had now been gone to college for about two or three months. I don't think we ever wrote to each other, although I had a 5x7 senior photo of her in my MG; all the kids from the day camp said she was pretty. I would see her again at the feast in Squaw Valley, California in a month or so. Even though I was busy and around a lot of people, at the same time I felt lonely. I believe that this session is just me and Terry.       Perfect Love Junkstore Alley That's the Way it Always Goes       Avalanche Wedding Song Pleasant Street         Falling Stars   These songs were recorded about the time that Rita headed off to college in LA.   The magnetic tape had deteriorated on "Pleasant Street" and "Falling Stars" before I transferred to digital - They are difficult to listen to. SONG FOR RITA This song had a specific purpose.  It was a goodbye song to sing to Rita just before she left for L.A. to attend college.  I was doing concerts and performing a lot for an "open mic" at a place called "The Other Side of The Tracks" operated by Victory Music.  I would sometimes take Rita with me and she would sing harmony.  I asked her to come with me just a few days before she left for college.  Chris Lund (the MC) announced us ("Rick and Rita") and we performed two of my songs.  The harmony was great and the songs came off very well.  Rita took her seat back at our table, and I said that was probably the last time we would perform together.  Rita was leaving for college in a few days and this song (that I had just written) was for her. After hearing my introduction to the song, everything got real quiet. Even the kitchen staff stopped what they were doing and came out to listen to the song. At the end of the song you could have heard a pin drop. Everything was quiet for a moment or two and then the room erupted in applause. A few years later, someone that had been in the audience that night (some other musician) told me that he remembered that night, "when you sang a goodbye song to your girlfriend" he said "I always wished I could do something like that".   Song for Rita Rita was quite touched after the song, however, she still left for college, we never really did get back together, and indeed that was the last time we sang together.   The Mobile Dance Unit The new J.C. Penny catalog came. Wow! They had a cool mobile dance unit. It was a suitcase. You take the top off and there it is; two turn tables, and all of your controls. There was a microphone jack, a headphone jack, volume controls for everything, and a cue control, so you could cue up records. It was great! I ordered one right away! It would be great for any church dance that would come up. Live bands were not getting many jobs, as Disco was becoming the big fad of the day. Terry Miller had a Vocal Master sound system that he was selling, so I bought that, and had everything I needed to start doing dances. A New Cable TV Station in Town About this time, a new cable TV station started in Auburn at the west end of town, on Main Street, not too far from "The Other Side of the Tracks". Somehow I found out they needed volunteers.  I had done a TV show on a cable station that Donn Moyer's folks owned (when I was at GRCC), but I didn't get the experience of running the controls. I figured that I should volunteer so I could learn something about the technical part of doing a TV show, so I went down and volunteered. They told me to come in on the next day that they would be recording a show. When I showed up I was surprised to see Marty Reimer there. I hadn't seen Marty for a couple of years. Marty had the same idea that I had about volunteering to learn more about TV production. Marty had already been doing this, and I was just watching as the production went along. It was a Christian station, so I was surprised to experience the fellow in charge yelling at Marty as he struggled with the controls, and even thumped him on the back of the head. I was having doubts as to whether this had been a wise choice, and I only volunteered for a couple of sessions before deciding it was not a place that I was interested in any long term relationship. Let's Dance However, I found out that Marty had continued to do the dances that would come up through the college radio station (KGRG). I told Marty about the mobile unit that I had just purchased, and suggested that we work together to do dances. I had church dances and Marty had the college dances; and between the two of us we could drum up enough business.  We didn't have any lights, or records, or much of anything else, so I started buying things so we could begin. To begin with we just barely had enough equipment, but every time we did a dance I would spend the money (other than our DJ cut) on getting more records and equipment. We charged $100.00 and I paid Marty 30% - $30.00 (unless I did the dance and then I got the $30.00).  The rest of the money I put into the business buying prizes, records, and new equipment. I think we did dances for a couple of years (going from $100.00 a dance to $250.00).  We were busy most every weekend with at least one or two dances. Blast from the past! I was just wandering around the internet and came upon your online autobiography. What a fasinating read. So cool to read about your GRCC experiences and your interaction with me. You were too kind in how you portrayed me Also interesting to read about Adoria, who I knew from high school.  Anyhow, it was a wonderful flashback. Thanks. And I hope this finds you well! - Marty (aka Carl) This picture was taken at a church dance we did each year at Tanglewood Island Summer Camp Marty is a fantastic and talented performer.  When we started doing dances, I would do a dance like a radio show, but Marty did a dance like a concert.  He would get people excited and EVERYONE would be having fun.  I learned how to do dances from Marty (he was great at it).  I would do most of the Sunday and Saturday night dances, Marty would do all of the Friday night and Saturday dances. We were doing several dances every weekend. We did dances for Elk, Moose and Eagles lodges, weddings, churches, junior high schools, camp-outs, and cruise boats. One day we got a job for a group in down town Seattle. Marty had played for this group It seemed to be a family gathering, but it was a pretty large group. Everyone that was there was black (except for us). It felt like being in a different world. The nice thing about it was how welcoming the group was. For the time we were there, we were just part of the group. They all danced for about two hours, and then took a dinner break at about midnight. After taking about 30 to 45 minutes to eat, the dance continued for another hour or so. Marty and I ended up parting our paths over money.  Marty had done three dances in a row with some major pieces of our equipment (mainly lighting) being destroyed.  I spent more on replacing equipment than what we had earned doing the dances.  So I told Marty that I was going to take out money for broken equipment BEFORE I paid him his 30%.  Marty told me that he should be getting paid MORE than 30%.   He was right of course, I should have been paying him more, but I was too upset about the equipment that had been broken to discuss paying him a higher percentage at the time. We never did dances together again.  Marty went on to become a great air talent in the Seattle market, working for KJR FM and KMTT and probably a few others. Gas Station Job I got a job working at a gas station after the summer day camp job had ended. It was slow, so I was able to write songs while I was working. Here are the blue gas station towels that I wrote "A Perfect Love" on.     A Perfect Love My Dad Died My dad died when I was 22 years old.  It was in November, about a week before Thanksgiving.  My dad had picked me up from work. I was working at a gas station (it was not that busy, so I would bring my guitar to work and spend my day writing songs).  He had me drop him off at a Shaklee distributor's home, and I drove the car home.  While he was there, my dad had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital.  I was off doing something the rest of the day, so don't think I was aware that he was in the hospital till I got home that night. My mom, and my two youngest sisters went to see my dad in the hospital while I was out, so I went with my mother the next morning.  When we arrived at the hospital, the doctor met us as we came in and my mom somehow knew that my dad had died.  Before they could say anything, she asked "Is he dead?" I was surprised that she was asking the question.  I was equally surprised when they said yes.  I was not able to see my father again.  I chose not to view him after he had died (I didn't want the image of my dead father in my head). Third Recording Session - Monday, November 21, 1977 That day I had a recording session scheduled at Applewood Studio in West Seattle.  Rather than having to call everyone to tell them that the session was off (and explain why), I just kept the date and did the session.  I recorded "Song for Rita", "Alone", "The Proposal", "Holiday", "You in LA", "Sometimes", "Love's Web", "When Will I See You Again", and "April Song" on that day.         Song For Rita Alone The Proposal       Holiday You in LA Sometimes       Love's Web When Will I See You Again April Song Click Here for a Link to Song Lyrics     Terry Miller was helping me out on the session, and met me at the studio. He was surprised when I showed up with my brother Steve (I believe that Steve had done harmonies at times when Terry was in LA and in a band with my brother, Gary). I told Terry that my brother Gary would be in town tomorrow, and Terry asked "What's the occasion?" When I told him that my father had died last night, he said that we didn't need to do the session; and could reschedule. I told him, no I wanted to record. It would be good to be doing something. All the songs were done in one take. The first five songs are just me singing and playing guitar.  However, I had just written the next four songs and didn't feel confident enough to play guitar and sing at the same time, so I asked Terry to play guitar on the next songs. I would quickly go through the first verse and chorus, then Terry would say "Okay I got it" and then we recorded. So, the first time that Terry had heard the whole song is when we were recording it. Terry thought a couple of different chords worked well on "Love's Web" and I agreed. But when we went into the guitar instrumental part, I had know idea where he was going with it and didn't know how we were going to get back musically to the last verse. I remember thinking that we would need to do a second take, because I wasn't going to be able to get back to the verse. But, all of the sudden, there it was and we finished up the song in just the one take. Terry had brought along his drummer, Greg, (who also did vocals) to the session, so after getting all the songs recorded we went through and recorded the harmony tracks.  Steve, Greg and I are doing harmonies on "The Proposal", "Holiday", "Love's Web", and "When will I see you Again". Terry is playing Guitar on "Sometimes", "Love's Web", and When Will I See You Again", and piano on "April Song".   I had done a concert at "The Other Side of the Tracks" a few weeks earlier. When we were getting ready to go to the concert, my dad said that he wasn't going to go. I felt so bad, because my dad had come to all my concerts. When I asked why he didn't want to come, he explained that at my last concert, he was stuck at the door collecting the cover charge. I assured him that someone else would be at the door, and he said okay and went with us to the concert. I had just written "You in LA".  It seemed a bit too sexy to perform (with my father positioned at the front table - I wanted to be sure he had nothing to do but enjoy the concert) but I did the song anyway. After the concert my dad said that he really liked "You in LA", and thought it was one of my best songs. My Dad's "Ghost" The night after my dad's death, I had a dream.  My dad was in my room.  I sat up in bed and he began to talk to me.  He wanted to make sure that everything was alright. He asked a couple of questions till it was understood that he couldn't stay and he wasn't really suppose to be there.  That was the dream.  I didn't think much about it till we were all together at Thanksgiving, a week or so after the funeral.  Someone mentioned about the dream that they had.  It was just like mine.  In fact all seven children (except my two youngest sisters who saw my dad before he died) had the same dream, I believe on the same night.  I am not sure what to think about that. Concert with Terry Miller at "Other Side of the Tracks" Saturday April 1, 1978 9:00pm I did another concert at "The Other Side of the Tracks". There were always two performers/groups playing. Each group would play alternating hours. This time it was with Terry Miller. The first set was at 8:00pm, but sunset wasn't until 7:40pm, so I arrived just as the Sabbath was ending, but Terry's band had already been there for some time because they had a lot of equipment to set up. The rule for performing at a victory music event is you have to put everything back the way you found it. Since I was not there for the set up, I didn't know what was where. So at the end of the night, I had to rely on Terry's band to put everything back the way it was. They didn't, and the next night I got a call from Chris Lund because the group that was scheduled for a concert Sunday night could not start their concert because an essential chord was missing. It got packed up with Terry's equipment. I think they were able to patch things up to get the concert going after a big delay, and I drove up to Terry's house the next day to get the chord back. Adoria Kanistenaux After my dad died, my brother Steve and I got CETA jobs (my mom had found out about) working for school districts.   Steve worked for the "grounds" department at the Kent School District, and I got a job in the warehouse at the Auburn School District. One of my main jobs was being the inner office mailman. I would go from school to school ... picking mail up from and delivering mail to ... all the schools offices.  While delivering mail to the high school office, I met a girl (who was going into her senior year in high school) who was working as the summer high school secretary. I remember commenting to one of the other guys in the warehouse that I thought she was very pretty.   So they talked me into asking her what her name was.   She told me it was:  Adoria Kanistenaux.  I knew that I would not remember it unless I repeated it over and over on my way out to the truck.   So I was saying the name over and over as I walked ... A-door-ee-ah  Kah-nist-tah-no ... A-door-ee-ah  Kan-ist-tah-no.   As I was walking out, there was a lady walking in.   She looked at me like I was rather odd.   But that didn't matter to me, I needed to remember the name.   I later found out that the lady who was entering the school that day was Adoria's mother.  Although I had graduated three years earlier (and had already gone through two years of college) her mother seemed to be O.K. with Adoria being around me.  Her step-father, on the other hand was not too excited about the idea.  He thought that I was too old.  But since I was well known in the community, and considered to be a "good kid", he tolerated it (me). At the time I was recording every so often at Applewood Studio in West Seattle, and doing concerts and open mics at various places.  I asked Adoria if she would like to sing back-up vocals for me. I gave her a cassette tape of my songs, so she could listen to the harmony parts. Now, the odd thing about this request is that I had never heard her sing. There was something about her, however, that made me know that she would do a good job; she did. Not only were her vocals great (she can be heard on several of the songs on "my music" page), but she could pick up the harmonies right away on her own. She was a natural. One of the songs on the tape was "The Proposal" and she asked if we could sing that song.   The Proposal Adoria sang harmony on the song. It was perfect.  I told her "That's a dangerous song to sing with me". Adoria was my girlfriend for about six months or so.  In that time she sang harmonies with me in at least three concerts, at a telethon and on at least one recording session and at a wedding. My fourth Studio Session Nine to Five / Self Portraits / Demon in Your Eyes / To the Children / Still in Love with You / It Must Have Been You / Song for the Beginning         Nine to Five Self Portraits Demon in Your Eyes To the Children         Still in Love with You It Must Have Been You Song for the Beginning   It Must Have Been You was the first song that I had written about Adoria, followed by Song for the Beginning. "Song for the Beginning" I was asked to sing at a wedding; Ron Goethals was getting married to Felicia.  Her family spoke Spanish, and I had just written a song for Adoria (You can hear how I not so subtly hid her name in the lyrics of the song), and I thought it would be cool to have Spanish on the song.  So, Felicia's parents translated it for me. I was in a car accident coming home from the rehearsal (smashed in the left fender of my MG); luckily I was by myself. On my way home there was a bridge that I crossed that had a turn in it.  The bridge was about 30 feet above railroad tracks. It was a rainy night and as I was driving over the bridge a car (or truck) drove toward me with what seemed like his "brights" on.  I looked off to the side and as he passed looked forward again.  The road was turning and I did not have enough time to turn  with the rain coming down.  I was heading straight for the railing and I felt certain that I would be going over the side. I closed my eyes and ask for help again.  I didn't open my eyes till everything had stopped moving. When I opened my eyes my car had crashed and was facing the other direction.  I was not harmed (not even scratched).  I don't know exactly what happened. A tow truck hauled my MG to a tow lot, that I would pick it up from on the following day, with my Brother Steve's truck. The wedding was a couple of days later, and I believe that Adoria came with me and sang harmony. I was still working for the school district when I recorded this song. It was the one that the school district warehouse manager liked the best. Mount Rainer August 28, 1978 On my 23rd birthday Adoria showed up with a birthday cake and woke me up by singing "Happy Birthday". She then had to take off to do something that she had planned, and I was set to climb to the top of Mount Rainer with my brother Steve and Danny Lapeska. Danny had been working for an outdoor/camping place and had already climbed Mount Rainier a couple of times, so he was the guide.   We all got together at our house and loaded up the pick-up truck with all of our gear.   We drove to Paradise and proceeded to hike to Camp Muir (the "high camp").  However, we got less than half way there and the weather began to turn bad.  So we headed back down the hill and spent the night at some friends house in Eatonville and then headed out the next day.  Danny told us that if you get caught in even a mild snow storm, you could get all turned around and it could become very dangerous.   That was O.K. because none of us were on a strict schedule, as I remember.  We headed back up the mountain the next day and reached the high camp in the afternoon, as people were setting in for the night.   You need to go to bed early so you can get up at midnight and begin your assent.  That way you can get back down the mountain before the afternoon comes and all the crevasses open up.  The campers cabin was wall to wall people.  There was no room for us.  So we went outside a choose a place that we would roll our sleeping bags out for the night.   But before doing so Danny gave us lessons on how to "fall on your ice ax".  The three of us would be tide together the next day, and if someone were to fall into a crevasse the other two would have to stop the fall by falling on the ice ax and digging our "cramp-ons" (spikey things attached to our boots) into the snow.  After a few short lessons we were off the our sleeping bags.  Getting sleep was a bit difficult due to the rodents that kept running around and over us throughout the short night. We got up at midnight and began our climb before most of the rope teams headed off.  There were a couple of large groups and we didn't want to get "stuck" behind one.   We had our headlamps on as we began to hike.  You need a headlamp when you begin because it's dark and everything has snow on it, so the trail isn't that easy to see all the time.  The problem was, we only had two headlamps between the three of us.   So Danny decided that since he was in the lead, he should have one, and since I was in the rear, I should have the other one.   I was to shine my headlamp ahead enough for Steve (who was in the middle) to see.  This was very awkward and uncomfortable.  My head was pointed up the hill and I was unable to see where I was walking.  I was glad when it became light enough for us to hike without the headlamps. The higher we hiked the less oxygen there was to breath.  I was taking about five breaths for every step that I was taking.  The hike itself wouldn't have been that hard at all, if I was able to breath.   I got a bad headache and felt nauseous.  We had packed a lunch but I had a hard time eating anything.  We finally reached the crater at the top.   Mount Rainier is an inactive volcano so the top of the mountain is the highest point of the crater ridge at the center.  There was a big coffee can at the top with paper and pencils.  Everyone added their names on the list of names on the paper.   This was done not just because it was a neat thing to do ... but if someone went missing the rescue teams would know if the hikers disappeared on their way up or down the mountain. Heading down the mountain was much easier.  You would just let yourself relax and kind-of glide down the hills of snow.   I was feeling much better and was hungry when we reached the truck.  Hot Springs On another hiking trip, my brother Steve thought it would be a neat thing to hike up to some hot springs.  So we were off hiking.  We were not going to stay the night so we didn't take our back packs, as I recall.  The trail had not been used for some time.  In fact, parts of it were completely grown over.  There was one section that we hacked our way through berry bushes and other overgrowth till we finally came the the remains of the trail again.  The more difficult the way became, the more "worth it" it seemed to be, because we would have these unknown hot springs all to ourselves.  When we were just a few hundred feet from the springs, we hacked our way onto a nice new road that was not on our map.  As it turned out, the map that my brother had purchased was 10 years old and now there was a new road that went directly to the hot springs.  We were not alone.  It seems that it was a popular spot for naked middle aged men.  We were so disappointed that we left without even trying to experience the hot springs.  From then on we always looked at the date our maps were published before we set off on adventure.  Feast of Tabernacles Seattle 1978 - Why is She Crying? At a sort of "open mic / talent show a number of people performed.  The Bosserman Brothers did their signature "It Never Rains in California" cover, and I did three original songs. On one of my songs I looked out into the crowd and saw a girl crying. I was wondering what could be wrong, and that someone should help her out. All of this time that I am wondering what was wrong and why she was crying, I continued to play and sing my (very sad) song. At some point I realized that she was in fact crying because the song was sad. It seemed strange that someone could have such a strong emotional reaction about a song that I was singing, when I wasn't even paying attention to it as I sang. The Show Must Go On One afternoon when I was in a hurry to get to a wedding that I was doing the reception dance for (at the Little Lake Wedding Ranch), I had to stop all of the sudden.  I had some glass mirror squares on the seat of my truck.  When I stopped, I put my hand in front of the mirrors to prevent them from falling on the truck floor and breaking.   I was successful at preventing them from falling to the floor.  However, I also slit my wrist in the process.  The cut was quite deep.  In fact you could see to the tendon in my wrist.   The odd thing was ... there was no blood.   since I was not bleeding, I proceeded to the wedding and did the dance.  I had to keep my hand turned in throughout the night to keep the cut closed.   After the dance was over I drove to the emergency room to get sewn up. Legs Through Metal After getting in an accident with my MG Midget, I had to replace some of the front wheel parts. Luckily I had bought a "parts car" when I replaced the transmission a year or so earlier (It was a challenge to keep it running because parts were vey expensive). My "parts" car was an Mg Midget that didn't have an engine, but it had everything else. The car was up on jacks, and I had my legs underneath the car as I pulled on the wheel parts that I was removing.  The car tipped to one side and the jacks fell out from holding the car up.  My legs were completely underneath the car and the vehicle came down quickly.  I was certain that my legs would be crushed.  I said a quick prayer (basically just a call for help), and stood up and stepped away from the car.  I was a bit shaken so in went into the house for a minute or two and then came back out to see how to get the car back up on the jacks.  To my surprise the car was flat against the ground the jacks had fallen away from the car and were not underneath it.  As I looked at the car, I did not know how I was able to get out from under it.  The car had come down before I was able to remove my legs, and yet my legs were never touched by the car that was flat against the ground. It was as if I had pulled my legs through the car itself.  I have no explanation.  It Didn't Really Knock Me Out After I had several songs recorded in the studio, I made a trip down to LA to visit the record companies.  My brother Gary lived in Pasadena at the time, so I would go down for a two week visit .   In the mornings I would go through the LA phone book and look up all of the record companies and publishing firms, setting up interviews.  Then, after a couple of weeks, I would go back home and begin to earn money for more recording sessions.  When I had enough new material recorded I would travel from Seattle to LA (usually by hitch-hiking) to visit the record companies again.  I did that three times and became better at the process each time.  Some of the folks were very kind to me (this kid from Seattle), however at times it was a bit discouraging.   One of the first record companies that I visited was ABC Dunhill.  When I met with the A&R guy there, he took my cassette tape of songs and put it in his player.  He began to listen to the first few seconds of the song and then "wwwwrrrrr" he would fast-forward to the next song.  A couple of seconds into the second song ... same thing.  I am thinking to myself "What is he doing? He's not even getting to the good part."  Within a couple of short few minutes, my visit was over.  He took my cassette out of the player and while tossing it back to me said "It didn't really knock me out".   The Unknown Guest On the cover of Jackson Browne's "For Every Man" album you see the courtyard of a home in L.A. where his brother Severin lived (in the late 70's). I believe their grandfather had built the complex. I met Severin when he was performing in Seattle in 1978.  He had recorded some things at Applewood studio and Terry Miller (a friend who introduced me to the studio) had told me where Severin's gig was. I showed up and when his band took a break after the first set, I went up and introduced myself. I asked him if I could give him a cassette tape of songs that I had written.   I was interested in any comments that he could give me.   He graciously said he would be happy to listen to my songs.  I am not sure if I gave him my phone number, or he gave me his ... but after a few weeks we were on the phone together talking about my songs.  He made a couple of lyrical suggestions but told me that he thought my songs were "cool" and told me to look him up when I was in L.A. (I was planning to visit the record companies in another month or so). I left my job at the Auburn School District to travel down to LA to visit the record companies. When I got to L.A. (actually at my brother Gary's apartment again in Pasadena) I gave Severin a call, and he invited me over.  I took the bus to where he lived, and he showed me around his place (pictured in the album cover above).  He also invited me to a costume party that he was having in a couple of days.  I asked if he minded if I brought my brother along.  He said no, that would be fine. The question was ... what could we wear as a costume?  Gary came up with the idea of going as the "Unknown Guest".  There was a comic at the time that would perform with a paper bag over his head with two eye wholes.   He was called "The Unknown Comic".   So we went to the costume party wearing jeans and a sport jacket with a paper bag over our heads.  We each had a sign on our jacket pocket that Gary had made.  It was about 3"x5".  Mine said, "The Unknown Guest", and Gary's said, "The Unknown Guest's Unknown Brother". We showed up to the party and sat along the side, not speaking to anyone but ourselves.  When someone would come over and say hello, we would nod or use hand gestures.  Gary would occasionally smoke a cigarette, using one of the eye wholes. This was a typical "Hollywood" party, where most of the attendees come with hopes of seeing someone famous.  There was talk going around that we may be the Hudson Brothers.  At one point someone announced that he had a new single to play.  So he put his 45 on the record player and played his song (as he and his girlfriend danced).  No one seemed to pay much attention, and when the song was finished he retrieved his record and blended back into the party guests. When the party was over we went back to the kitchen to tell Severin goodbye.  We took off our bags and the people who were with Severin (in the kitchen) seemed to be disappointed that we WERE, in fact, "unknown guests'. Upon arriving back from LA from my visit of the record companies, I came back home, and in a few weeks my brother Gary moved up from LA.  After he settled in at my mom's place we talked about getting a place together, possibly starting our own recording studio. There was an empty store (I think they used to sell antiques there) at the west end of Main Street, a few blocks away from "The Other Side of the Tracks" (where we would sing on open mic nights) that seemed would be a good location for our new place.  Gary drew up plans and made a pitch to the owners of the building who were not interested in renting at the time. Next Concert at "Other Side of the Tracks" I did another concert at "The Other Side Of the Tracks" around this time. Adoria's family came to the concert (even her father). everything seemed to go well, but her old boyfriend showed up. When I met Adoria she actually had a boyfriend (Bob Bray) who was off at summer camp. I knew nothing about him, and that created a strange situation.  I don't think he came in, but I believe that Adoria went out to talk to him (he had been drinking), and I think that is when I found out what his car looked like. I was the last one to leave the restaurant when everyone had gone home, I finished putting things away and got in my car and headed home. The old boyfriends car pulled out quickly and started following me. I headed home like nothing was wrong (thinking that he would just stop following me). However, he followed me all the way home.  So I drove past my house wondering what I should do. I drove around for a while, but he kept following. Then it hit me.  I would just drive him home.  As it turned out his little brother (I think his name was Frank) would go to some of the dances that Marty would do with my mobile dance unit. Marty and I were still doing dances at that time. And we would pick Frank up at his house (Adoria's old boyfriend's brother) Sooo I turned the car around and headed for his house.  I pulled up in front of his parents house and rang the door bell.  His dad had to get up from bed (it was past midnight) I apologized for waking him up, told him who I was, and told him that his son was drunk and following me around in his car. The father headed out to his son's car, but he took off (racing down the street). I told everyone "goodnight, I'm going home" I left and never saw the old boyfriend again. Owl Terry Miller was using different places for his band to practice. I believe that one of the locations was a place that was also used by Heart, I don't know if it was at that location or another, that he met the group Owl. I remember they had a house somewhere (I think) in north Seattle that was set up as a recording studio. Terry brought me there (I am not sure why - maybe I was doing some harmonies, I can't remember) and I played a couple of my songs for them. As it turned out, they were going to be selling their 8 track studio mixing board, so they could update to a 16 or 32 track board. I think they were asking $2,500.00 and I made arrangements to buy it. Since my brother Gary moved back home from Pasadena, he had a Teac 3340 Record Deck and we would be able to set up our own little studio. The Telethon About this time I was asked to perform at a telethon. I think that Owl was also going to be there. I don't know if Terry Miller's band performed or not. I don't recall seeing either of them there. I think I had two sets of three songs (about 2 or 3 hours apart from one another). If I remember right it was at Edmonds Community College, so it took about an hour just to get there. I think it was just me singing and playing guitar with Steve and Adoria singing harmony. Everything was running a bit late, and it was hard to know exactly when you were up. It seems like there was a list, but at times it was a bit in flux, so I had to keep checking. Steve and Adoria seemed to be enjoying themselves. They were laughing and having a good time. I remember feeling thankful that I had two singers, because if there were only one, then it would have been pretty boring since I was spending so much time trying to figure out the schedule.  I had thought the time in between sets would have been spent watching the other performers; instead it was just a lot of setting up and tearing down. If I remember right they had at least two different locations that they were shooting from and not many of the good performances seemed to be happening from our location. It was a long day. HUB Auditorium The two bands (Owl and Terry Miller) were planning to do a concert together and asked me to perform also. It was at HUB Auditorium (University of Washington). The guy running soundboard did a great job, and it was probably the best concert that I ever did. It seems however that Terry Miller's band and Owl both wanted to headline the concert, and since they couldn't agree, they ended up giving me the top billing on all the posters and publicity. It seemed odd to me, because they were much better than I was.  But I ended up doing a great job that night, so all was well. Five Years Older I was very mindful of being 5 years older than Adoria (when we met I was 22 and she was 17). I had already graduated from high school, gone two years to college, and was in the middle of pursuing my own dreams; she had done none of that yet. I realized that the chances of us getting married and living out our lives together was remote. Not just the age difference, but also family, and religious differences. My family was lower middle class (I lived in a barn without indoor plumbing when I was in junior high). She lived on the other side of town where the new housing was. My family was politically conservative, I believed hers were liberal. We always had cats and dogs and chickens, and my parents were interested in "natural foods". I do not think there were any animals at her house. We also had very different religious beliefs. I kept Jewish holidays and didn't go out from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. I also had certain dietary restrictions. I never expected her to believe what I believed, and she didn't seem "moved" to go in that direction. When Adoria would talk about her dreams for the future, sometimes they were pretty specific, like moving to Texas and joining a dance group called the Rocketts (if I remember correctly). She never talked about raising a family, and I never could picture me included in her future dreams. So, it was tough because Intellectually I was pretty sure that our relationship would not be a permanent one. However, Adoria would make my heart skip; she was perfect. She was bright and bubbly, and always made me feel like a better person. I cannot explain how special that look was, that I saw in Adoria's eyes. It took my breath away (when I think about it, it still does). One day in (probably) November or December she said to me that she needed to "stay single" for awhile. This was a strange time. I had a song ("Wedding Song") that I being considered for a movie soundtrack, I was doing lots of concerts and recording sessions, and I had a beautiful girlfriend. However, it all seemed that everything was on edge of falling apart. I wrote "Windy Tuesday". Applewood Studio, Sunday, January 21, 1979 Nine to Five / Demon in Your Eyes / To the Children / It Must Have Been You / My Fault / Windy Tuesday I am not sure why I re-recorded these songs. I think the members of Owl are backing me and Adoria is singing harmony. "My Fault" is a song that I had just written as kind of a joke and I just on the spot started playing and everyone joined in. In reality the only new song in this session was Windy Tuesday. I wasn't happy with this session over-all. The tempo seemed a bit rushed.       Nine to Five Demon in your Eyes To the Children       It Must Have Been You My Fault Windy Tuesday RDS Neither Gary nor I were working and we needed to find work. Although I had my mobile dance unit operating, I only had jobs on the weekend.  During the week there was seldom a dance to do. Someone had suggested that we check out driving an ice cream vending vehicle. I do not think that I was particularly interested in the idea, but would check it out.  We both went down to apply and I think we went out driving a vehicle that day. Two brothers, Dan and Lan, operated the business.  They had around 40 Cushman (meter-maid) vehicles that were converted into ice cream scooters. I believe Gary had a couple of problems with his scooter, and did not work the whole day. My day went well.  Gary decided not to drive an ice cream scooter anymore, and got a job at Shakey's Pizza Parlor instead. I continued to drive the ice cream scooter. I became one of their better sellers and would explore "new territory" for the company.  On the off-season they hired me to create a training slide show and drivers manual. A Drive Around The Block I was driving an ice cream scooter for RDS in the summer of 1979 in Tacoma, Washington.  My route was a location known as "Hilltop".  It was the part of town that had frequent drive-by shootings, as L.A. gangs had recently moved north to the Seattle / Tacoma area.  The area consisted of low income families (mostly on welfare).  Ice cream sales were the best after the first of the month, when people received their government checks.  This was also an area that robberies were common in. One day while driving my scooter, I came to an intersection where I felt that I shouldn't go down the street.  Instead I went one street over and avoided that block.  I had never done this before, and didn't know why I was doing it then.  I just (for some unknown reason) didn't feel comfortable driving down that one stretch of street. The next day some of the kids told me that someone was planning to rob me the day before but I passed by the street.  I guess that surprised them and they changed their plans.   I had somehow "felt" the "bad energy" or God had given me a bad feeling about what was up ahead.   I can't explain it but I am glad it happened. The weight of 25 pennies When I was driving an ice cream scooter, I was often paid in pennies.  When being paid 25 cents (in pennies) all day, you are able to tell how much money you have, just by the weight in your hand.  If a child would give me 23 or 24 cents I would be able to feel that total was short, and have them count out the pennies.  Or if they had given me too many pennies, I would say, "that's a little too much, let's count it out."  If the weight felt right in my hand, however, I would never count it out.  I would simply throw all of the pennies into my little glove box.  At the end of the day, my penny count was usually accurate (down to the penny). Auburn Avenue Theatre   Auburn Avenue Theatre was a movie theatre when I was little.  I remember standing in a long line to see Mary Poppins when it came out. But about the time that I graduated from High School it became a live performance theatre for both drama and music. We did a family concert there when my sister Donna was heading off to college. This photo is when I did a concert there with Lisa Kuhlman. This concert was on Thursday, May 24th, 1979.     I am not sure, but I believe that this would be one of the last times that I saw Adoria. She was such an inspiration, at a time that was shortly after my dad had died. I do not think we ever argued or disagreed, and I only have good and warm memories. She was beautiful and filled with potential, and I was fortunate to have her as my girlfriend for a short period of time. I often wonder where she ended up. I have gone on line thinking that I might find her having accomplished some great thing. I believe I may have found her recently on line, but I can't be sure if it is her. Obviously her last name has changed - if it is. It is just an old face book page with one post over 10 years old. Last Day with Rita This is odd, because I am not sure of the exact date of this picture. It seems like it was at the beginning of the feast in Seattle in 1979. Rita (on the right) and I had not been together for some time, but she was at the feast with a college friend. If I remember, we spent just a day together and that would be the last time I saw her, other than, years later, running into each other at the airport. Thinking back, I believe that Rita would have liked to maintain our friendship and even would have enjoyed it if we continued singing together. However, I was unable to allow her to be just a friend. That was unfortunate.  I was really an idiot, and didn't give her a choice. It was at this Feast (1979) that I spent almost the entire feast doing dances. Feast Dances I was really busy with my mobile dance unit during the feast.  The church had always hired some other dance business to do the dances, but since I had been doing most of the local dances, someone suggested to the "feast coordinator" that I do the dances.  So, one day I got a call.  He was in town and wanted to stop by my house to talk about it. I showed him my sound equipment and lights, and explained how I did the dances (my focus was to make sure that everyone was having fun, and I had a number of "novelty" things that I did). He asked me how much I charged. Even though I was charging $250 at that time, I always gave the church a break, so I said $150.  He paused for a second and said can you do five dances?  I felt odd charging the church $750 for the dances, but he said, he have to pay someone the money, we might as well pay for the best.  He had heard about the dances that we did (they really were good). It was an odd feast. I was making a lot of money and was busy the whole feast. Although everyone commented how they really enjoyed the dances, I didn't feel like I was going to the feast; I was working. I met Rachael Richardson at the Feast of Tabernacles in Seattle in 1979.  She was with her brother Kevin Richardson.  They were no relation to us.  My sister Lori knew Kevin (the one with the beard) from college (the church college in California). Rachael Richardson Rachel was not a "girlfriend".  In fact I really didn't know her that much.  However, the story is important to tell, to know where my head was at.  I met Rachael Richardson half way through the feast and she accompanied me to a couple of the dances. After spending much of the last part of the feast together and many phone calls afterward, I decided to go visit her in Oregon one weekend.  Upon arriving at her address I came to find out a couple of important things to know.  Her last name was not Richardson (that was her maiden name). She was married (although separated at the time).  She talked about "little white lies" that she told.  I remember wondering what she thought the difference between a "little white lie" and a "whopper" was.   When I arrived home I was advised by our local minister to "drop her like a hot potato".  It seemed like wise advice to me.   My song "Getting Better" was about this incident. AC Watson I had heard that AC Watson (who had helped me with a couple of my recording sessions - He plays lead guitar on "Demon in Your Eyes" and "Still in Love With You") had joined another band, after having been with Terry Miller's band, and they were playing someplace close. So, I decided to stop in and say hi.  I arrived at the club and sat at a table where I could see the band. As I was listening them play, AC noticed that I was there and we both acknowledge each other with a nod. After the song, he announced that "Rick Richardson is here tonight". That seemed like a strange thing to announce. Who would care?  There was a little applause and he asked me if I could come up and sing a song with the band. I initially gave a "no thanks" wave, but after another bit of urging I headed up to the stage. As I headed up I thought "What song could we do?  The band certainly wouldn't know any of my songs, and I wasn't sure what songs that we might both know. I suggested "The Eagles, Already Gone". I knew the words, and the band knew the song, so after a quick word back and forth, the band was playing the intro.  There wasn't a lot of room on the stage for an extra person, but one of the band members stepped aside so I could use his mic. I prefer to be holding a guitar when I sing (you can kind of hide behind it) but obviously there was no reason to have a guitar, so I began to sing without anything to do with my hands but hold onto the mic stand. I soon realized, although the band was doing a great job playing the song, it was in the wrong key.  It was a bit lower than it should be.  And though I was able to sing through the song in the lower key, it didn't feel right, and I wasn't happy with my performance. I gave AC a quick thanks for inviting me up and headed back to my seat, thinking that people must be wondering "Why did they ask THAT guy to come up and sing, even I could have done it better."  Anyway, I took my seat and after a couple more songs, I told AC that I had to take off, but it was sure nice to see him again, and then I left.  I remember thinking that "If I ever get asked to come up on stage again, when I am out, I should say that I have a cold or something."  My pre-planning about such a situation was a bit pointless, as it never happened again. My Last trip to the Record Companies in LA On my last visit to the record companies in LA, I had set up some interviews before even getting down there.  Actually Larry Lomax, a friend from KGRG the college station at Green River Community College helped me.  He was doing an evening show in Salem or Eugene Oregon (I can't remember which) at a top 40 station.  I stopped for the night and went in to work with him.  He put my song "Esther Michaels" on the air and asked for response from the audience.  It went very well, so the next day he contacted people from RSO and Pollydor Records.  After my visit with them they both showed interest in me. Here are the songs that I presented on that trip. I recorded these songs sometime after November 1979 at Chuck's house (the guitar player in Owl)           Esther Michaels Don't Want to Let You Go Going Away Getting Better Crying in the Night The A&R person at RSO said that he wanted me to move down to LA and work with a producer. He said that he had only made that offer to two other people and they both had record contracts now. This was toward the end of the summer of 1980 and I was contemplating what to do next. We were just a few weeks away from Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles) so anything that I would decide to do would be after that. In just a few weeks, at the Feast of Tabernacles in Spokane, Washington, everything would change.   Susan More than anything in life, I wanted to live my life with someone that was together with me in everything. That has been my life with Susan. We were in bands playing music together, we ran an ice cream vending business together, had a 30 year career in broadcasting together, lead a local congregation together, lead tours to Israel together, raised two children together. I do not know ANYONE else that has been blessed as much as I have, with the perfect soul-mate. She has been with me for EVERYTHING. I don't know why I have been so fortunate. I met Susan at "The Feast of Tabernacles" in Spokane, Washington in 1980.  I was feeling a bit depressed because many of the people that I had expected to be there, were not (including a couple of pretty girls from the tri-cities).  Then, I saw Susan across the Spokane Arena (where we were meeting) talking to someone that I knew (Greg Dourghty).  at the Spokane '80 Feast of Tabernacles Barbecue Although I didn't know Greg all that well, I decided to go over and say hello, just to find out who this girl was that he was talking to. Susan and I spent most of that week together, and when the Feast was over I stayed an extra couple of days and went to Susan's graduation from Kinman Business University where she had studied Dental Assisting. I visited her folks house in Spirit Lake, Idaho, before going to the graduation. At that time she took me down to the chicken house to get a few eggs. I put my arms around her and began to shake (I was very nervous). After arriving home the next day I made weekly phone calls from then (the end of September) till Thanksgiving. I wanted to call more, but long distance phone calls were really expensive back then. Susan came over to my mom's house in Auburn, Washington for Thanksgiving.  I had worked as much as I could after I got home so I could give her an engagement ring when she came over. I had worked a lot of Janitorial shifts for the Auburn School District. When I picked her up from the airport, I gave her a bunch of flowers (held together with a diamond ring)  When she noticed the ring I also gave her two buttons.  One said "Go fly a kite" and the other said "yes yes yes" all over it.  I told her that she could pick which ever button she wanted. That night we discussed a lot of things, including deciding the names of our two (to be) children.  William Bryan and Jessica Dawn The Music Source After meeting Susan, I knew that if I went down to LA to live (which was what RSO Records wanted me to do) whatever relationship that we might have, would never happen. I had spent over five years writing songs, paying for recording studio time, and traveling to LA with my tape of songs. RSO was giving me my break, and I had to make a choice. Either choice could be the biggest mistake of my life. I couldn't let Susan get away from me, so I decided to see if I could get a local label interested.  I looked up "Wolf Records" in the phone book, stopped in to meet with them.  I think that I ended up dropping off a tape that I brought that had a few songs on it.  They gave me a call and asked me to come in.  We talked about recording a couple of songs, and decided on recording "Esther Michaels" and "My Girl" (a new song that I had written)        Esther Michaels         Recorded at the MUSIC SOURCE (5-21-81)   I thought that they might be interested in putting me on their label, but they thought that I was just setting up recording time in their studio.  While we were doing the session they asked me if I would be interested in writing a jingle.  They had "Normandy Rose Jeans" as a new client.  I went home and called the next day, and sang the unfinished jingle that I had come up with. They said "cool" and asked me to come in and record a spec. They finished up some of the lyrics and we did a quick recording of it.  The client liked the jingle and in a couple of days we were recording final take.  It was very quick, and I earned $600.00.  That was good, because my studio bill was about $2000.00.  I thought "Wow! it only took me a couple of hours to write and record this jingle and I got six hundred for it!"  That seemed like a pretty good deal.  As it turned out the jingle was all over the radio and TV.  I am  driving in my car or watching TV and hearing myself sing the jingle that I wrote. I began thinking "My jingle is all over the radio and TV, and I only got paid six hundred dollars".  So I had to remind myself that just a few weeks earlier I was thrilled with the deal.        Normandy Rose Jeans Jingle   Ricky Brian Richardson married Susan Dawn Emehiser July 12 1981       This song was the first song that I recorded in the studio (Applewood Studio - June 5,1977) We played this recording on July 12, 1981 when Susan walked down the isle   It Must Have Been You This song was played as we walked back, after the ceremony. Our first business building Ricky Racoon Ice Cream If I wasn't going to be a recording artist, what was I going to do? I still had my mobile dance unit, but dances had shifted back to live bands.  I had no experience at working at a real radio station, but I had been helping at managing the ice cream vending company that I worked at in the summer, so I decided to start our own ice cream vending business. Our first location was an old wooden building in Olympia.  There were blackberry bushes growing around it.  I had two of my own ice cream scooters, and four scooters that I leased from RDS.   Dan (the owner of RDS) had "advised" me to start my business at the end of the season.  I don't know why I went along with this crazy idea.  It didn't seem like it would be the best move, but Dan had done this business for years, and he certainly would know the best way to start. As it turned out, it was a big mistake.  IF you ALREADY have a business going ... THEN starting new at the end of the summer works great, because you get a nice boost at the end of the year from brand new customers.   I did not have a business going, so Dan was the only one who really benefited from this crazy start date.  I was stuck with a bunch of things to pay for, through the winter, without having made any money except for a few weeks at the end of the summer.  It was the biggest of many pieces of bad advice given to me by Dan.   House Security I had to get a "winter job" till ice cream season season would start. We had a friend, (Vicky), who's father was the Chief Clerk of the Washington State House of Representatives, and I was able to find out how to get a job working security there. During my time as security guard , I met the House Photographer. I found out that he had use of a great camera with good lenses, he even had his own darkroom. The House photographer was the only person that go anywhere on the House floor (other that the House members. He would take pictures of the sessions, then develop the film and have prints made (for any possible press release) within a short period of time. It sounded like a great job.  House Photographer I had been a photographer for both my high school paper and college paper, so I was familiar with what he was doing.The House is the branch of the legislature that submits a budget, and it was not going to be done by the scheduled end of the session, so a "special session" was called. The House photographer told me that he would not be able to work the "special session" because he had made other plans. He told me that I should apply. The next day or so, I was was going up the elevator with Vicky's father (the Chief Clerk - who hires everyone), and I told him that I was lobbying for a job. This was a real-life "elevator pitch". In the minute it took to get to the next floor, I had an interview set to meet with him the next day. I got the job! House Photographer for the 1981 Special Session. It was a lot of fun!     The next year we moved our location to a little nicer building.      I purchased several vehicles over the next couple of years and the business began to grow, but is would only make money six months of the year.    Click Here for More about My Ice Cream Business These are the product "stickers" that I had on the side of the vehicle.  I would buy my product from the big ice cream companies and then rename then as my own products. You can see the prices on the menu above. On average the rule is: the product is four times the purchase (wholesale) price Camp Out The most enjoyable part of running the ice cream business was getting started.  It's kind of like camping out ... no ... it IS camping out.   We had operated a company in Olympia, and I decided to go to Aberdeen, and start a base of operation there.  I bought a travel trailer and we put a scooter in the back of my pick-up, and hitched up the trailer and we were off on our adventure. I brought two more scooters down, along with a "back box" for dry ice and chest freezer, and we were a full fledged operation.  Operating from a trailer park on the edge of town. The Move to Idaho We moved to Idaho in 1982 when Susan was pregnant with our first child.   She wanted to be close to her folks when the baby was born.  So we moved to Spirit Lake, Idaho in the fall, shortly before the first snowfall (which I think came that year in November).  It seemed like the snow was on the ground FOREVER, and there where drifts that would go to the roof on one side of the house.  Susan's Parents House in Spirit Lake, Idaho That winter I worked with her brother, cutting "poles" along with Dan and Doug Park (they had lots of wooded acreage).  Dan and Doug would use their chain saws to cut the trees down.  The tree would fall into the deep snow with a big "WOOOSH" (snow would be everywhere) and Jeff and I would use machetes to hack off the branches before loading them onto the flatbed truck.  It was a very long cold winter. Susan's folks gave us the big bedroom in their home for Susan and I to have our own space.  We contacted a midwife to deliver the baby.  Although we could have found out (through ultrasound) whether we were going to have a boy or girl before our children were born, we chose not to know till the birth. Before the birth we would sit in our room and I would play my guitar and sing my songs. There was one song that I had written titled "Rainbow Rider".  Every time that I would play that song, the baby would start to be REAL active.  We assumed that the baby was enjoying the music, although the kicking could have meant just the opposite I suppose. Bryan was born around 5am on May 11th 1983.  Susan went into labor about 24 hours ahead of that time, so when he was finally born Susan and I were both very tired, so the three of us took a very long nap.         Bryan's first word was "Hi".  He was just six months old, and was able to say the greeting so clearly that people were shocked that this little baby was talking to them.  They would be caught so off guard, that they would do the most illogical thing possible.   Still filled with disbelief that this little baby was able to converse with them they would ask him "What's your name?"  And of course his response was always the same.   "Hi!"  It was (after all) the only word that he knew. When spring came we began operating our ice cream vending business in Cour de Alene. Our location was right near the city park and lake.  I would get the five or six scooters sent out by 10:00.  After that we would send out a push-cart. You wouldn't made near as much money from the push cart, but it was a pretty easy day.   There were a number of other venders on the lake. I usually had a young girl stationed at the cart. We were next to "Gary's" hot dog cart.      Susan Finds an Apartment Susan and I began the season as the only drivers, then after about a week or so, we had earned enough money to buy enough ice cream and dry ice (and other supplies) to get the business going. Susan's mom would watch Bryan. While Susan would drive, she would look for a place for us to live. She found a 4-plex, that had an upper unit for rent, so we moved our little family into town. We lived there for a couple of years. Jessica was born there at the end of the summer (August 29th, 1984).   The AIDS crisis In the early 1980's there was a "world health crisis"; AIDS.  When we first found out about it, nobody really knew much about it, and there were predictions of an out-of-control pandemic on the horizon. There was speculation (at first) that it might be spread through casual contact, of maybe even be air-borne. There was a considerable amount of concern, and a lot of money dedicated to finding a "cure".  Everybody used a toilet seat cover when they used the restroom, and some people worried about using public swimming pools. We did not realize it was no different that any other STD, in the way it is (behaviorally) spread. As things ended up, it was more of a political issue than a major health issue. Winter Jobs The ice cream vending season started in April or May (depending on how the weather was), and would continue till about mid September. It was about five months long. Each winter, after the ice cream season would finish, I would get a winter job. There was not enough money to live of through the winter when we were not operating. In 1982/1983, I had worked for some friends that had a waterbed store. In 1983/1984, I got a job as an admissions rep for Kinman Business University in Spokane. The job consisted mostly of visiting high schools, showing them a film, and signing students up for the following year. It was a commission job.  I received half of my commission when I signed a student up for classes and half when they started classes.  New groups of students began classes throughout the year, however, the three main starting dates were September, October and January. My territory was the entire state of Idaho.  One of my stops was Lewiston, Idaho.               Jessica and Bryan                      The family (with my niece Joanna, who came to visit and help us with the kids) Lewiston Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkston, Washington are a couple of towns on the border of the two states, along the Snake River.  They are about 20 miles south of Pullman, Washington (home of Washington State University), but about 20 degrees warmer because you go down a very long steep hill to about sea level.  When I visited some high school students in Lewiston (to sign them up for classes) it was at the end of the winter, however in Lewiston it felt like summer.  Lewiston was also home of Lewis/Clark State College, a four year college with Communications as one of it's majors. Working for the business university started me thinking about getting more education, and I also had some good commissions coming to me for the fall and winter, so I could go to school for the first year without having to worry about earning any money till ice cream season started the next spring. So, Susan and I took the two hour drive down to Lewiston to check things out, and we decided to move.    Our move from Cour de Alene to Lewiston was even more of a camping trip.  The kids stayed with Susan's folks and we drove down for our adventure. We rented a storage unit at a place in Clarkston that was right next to a campground.  we put our two scooters and a chest freezer in the storage unit.  This was our temporary base.  Our camp ground was our temporary home.  We pitched a tent next to our truck (at the camp ground) and drove around all day selling ice cream.  Susan found a house for rent, and after a couple of days of selling we had enough for the month's rent and deposit.  We then moved our base into the garage of the home we rented. Moving to Lewiston Idaho was kind of like moving to California or Arizona; it was so much warmer there.  Lewiston was waaaay down in a deep valley along the Snake River (at about sea level). Driving down the steep grade to Lewiston there were run-away truck turn offs, in case the brakes went out on a vehicle when you were going down the hill, otherwise there would be no possible way to stop the vehicle (because of its steepness). You could also feel the heat rising as you headed down the hill. We loved the weather there. The growing season started at the beginning of March, so did the ice cream season Jail Bird One day when I was out selling ice cream, a couple of kids were at a park and were going to run across the street to buy ice cream. I motioned them to stay where they were, so they wouldn't run into the busy street, and I drove into the park where they were standing.  After selling them their ice cream, a police officer pulled up and gave me a traffic ticket for going into the park at the exit (rather than the entrance).  The ticket was for going the wrong way on a "one way street".  I thought that was a bit crazy, because the alternative was having small kids running into a busy street.   Sooo, I had planned to take it to court, but didn't set a court date in time.  I received a notice in the mail to pay by a certain date or there would be a warrant for my arrest.  I finally got down to the court to pay the ticket (in cash) on what I thought was the last possible day.  However, not included in the amount on the notice was a $25.00 "court fee" (which I didn't have with me).  They told me that if I didn't have the whole amount (including the "court fee") I would have to go to jail.  I was able to make a phone call to my wife, and she came to the courthouse with money from one of the ice cream scooters (a bunch of coins that we had to count out).  They didn't actually make me go into the jail, but I waited a the door to the "lock-up" till Susan got there. Goat's Milk When my daughter was born my wife was unable to adequately breastfeed her, so we supplemented with baby formula.  My daughter had a lot of difficulty with the soy formula and with cow's milk.  She was constipated and loosing quite a bit of weight. We discovered the goat's milk worked great.  So my wife looked up how to make baby formula with goats milk (adding molasses and other ingredients).  The goat's milk was, however, much more expensive than cow's milk. When we moved to Lewiston we rented a house that was about 1/4 mile from a little goat dairy.  We were able to buy goat's milk CHEAPER than we could buy cow's milk at the grocery store, so we just bought the cow's milk for all of us to drink. After about a month of drinking goats milk I realized that the acne problem that I had (on my back) had disappeared. I did not realize that I had an allergy to cows milk. During my whole life I had always drunk lots of cows milk.  My mom use to get six gallons at a time.  When we were thirsty we would never have a glass of water; we would have a glass of milk. After a year of no cows milk I realized the tooth decay problems that I had did not develop. So we began to understand that good dental health is much more effected by what's INSIDE (what we put in our stomach) than what's OUTSIDE (how much we brush). That is why drug users have rotten teeth.  They are destroying them from the inside-out.  Although I never used drugs of any kind, I was doing something just as destructive (for me) ... drinking milk.  Weird huh? Nudie Fruitcakes When Susan would give the kids a bath, she would put them both in the tub and wash them up.  Bryan was two and Jessica was almost one. As she would dry them off she called them "nudie fruitcakes".  One day just as they were completing their baths, as Susan was getting their cloths out, a friend came over. Susan had wrapped the kids in towels, but before she returned to the bathroom with their clothes, the kids heard that someone was there, dropped their towels and came running into the living room (where our guest was), yelling out "We're nudie fruitcakes! We're nudie fruitcakes!" LCSC Search Papers My second two years of college (LCSC) were much easier than my first two (GRCC). I think the reason for this was that I was 10 years older, and I had better instructors.  I remember dreading English 101. I had taken that class at Green River College and was convinced that this would be one of those classes that it would be good to "get through" as soon as I could. The main emphasis of the class was writing a research paper. I was planning on just squeaking through. I believe the instructor's name was Professor Hepworth.  What a great teacher. As we all began writing the first drafts of our papers Professor Hepworth explained that we were writing RESEARCH paper and Not a SEARCH paper.  The thrust of our paper was the opinion that we had formed, and the sources we included were to support the position that we were taking.  I had never understood that before, and suddenly things "clicked". I got an "A" in the class, and from that time on actually enjoyed doing research papers! There was a "computer lab" at LCSC, however it seemed to me to be more effort than I was ready to undertake. There was no internet, no easy cut and paste, just a lot to learn without much usefulness. So, needless to say, I did not use a computer to do my research papers. I had not learned how to type, so it was taking forever for me to get my papers ready.  My solution was to record my "paper" on a cassette tape. Susan would listen to the tape and type out what she heard.  I would then edit what she had typed. She would retype the paper, and THAT would be my rough draft. By the time the paper was done, Susan had typed it at least five or six times.  For every class, in which I had to write a research paper, it was the same process. Susan was glad when computers developed to the point that I was able to do more on my own. "Safe Sex" One day while attending LCSC, I was approached by someone who was promoting "safe sex". This was at a time when the AIDS crisis was in full swing (1985-1986). By this time, however, it was determined that the disease was transmitted primarily though using unsterile needles and having "unsafe sex". The fellow asked me if I practiced "safe sex". I responded by saying "of course not". He was shocked at my response. "Aren't you concerned about contracting AIDS?" he asked. "Why would I be?" I responded. "I don't use drugs, and I am not promiscuous." "If everyone is in agreement that those are really the only two ways to contract the disease, I am not going to get it. I am also not going to get any other STD."  The fellow said, "Well, that's assuming that neither one of you will have an affair." "Exactly", I said, "The only person that I have ever had sexual intercourse with, is my wife. How could I get an STD?" The fellow responded by asking "How long have you been married?" "Five years", I answered.  "Well, wait till you've been married TEN years, then see what you think." I have now been married for 40 years, and I am still not concerned about getting an STD. RADIO KATW During my first year at LCSC a new radio station (KATW) went on the air. They contacted the "Communication Arts" department to look for weekend DJs. During my time at GRCC my main focus was radio, but LCSC had no radio station.  This was a great opportunity, so I went right down with my air-check. I felt confident that I would get a shift, however, when I overheard the discussion about my tape I was surprised to hear less satisfaction with my performance than I had anticipated.  It is always good to be humbled.   It wasn't long before I had a full-time shift at the radio station, working "overnights" (from midnight till 6:00am M-F). So, I would work at night and go to school during the day. during my second year at LCSC I also had the opportunity to be the editor of the college newspaper, as well as having the lead male role in the spring production.  I knew that I was taking on a bit too much, but also knew that the opportunities would not come to me again. So I mapped out my daily schedule of work, classes, rehearsals, editing AND three hours a day to sleep.  By the end of the semester I was REAL tired. In The Shopping Mall KATW was located in a three story shopping mall, and there was no restroom in the radio station; instead it was down the hall, up a flight of stairs, around the corner and down another hall.  There were a number of long LP cuts that we reserved for this reason.  You could always tell when someone was off to the restroom, when you would hear one of those long songs being played on the radio. This Song Will Be #1 KATW was a music station playing "Hot AC" (Adult Contemporary) music. Each week the program director, Todd Nelson, would put out a new playlist for the week for our "rotations". The top10 current songs were in heavy rotation, then we had a medium and a light rotation for current music. One day when I was listening to to brand new records that had just come in, I listened to Eric Carmen, "Make Me Lose Control", and I told Todd, "We should put this into heavy rotation, because this song will be number one in two weeks." He looked at me rather puzzled and said "You don't know that the song will be #1." I said, "Of course I do, just listen to it." Todd was insistent that a song becomes #1 only because we put it on our playlist, and there was nothing inherently in the song itself that makes that determination. I disagreed. I said that the music itself determines where it would be on the charts, how high it enters the charts, and how long it stays on. So, I told Todd that I would turn in a playlist every week, that would be for two weeks in the future. It was both fun and challenging to come up with my list each week. But, sure enough, each future list would accurately foretell (with very few exceptions) the playlist two weeks into the future. I did my list for a few months, to make my point, although Todd never really came on board to believing in my prophetic music list abilities. Susan becomes a DJ One night I woke up before midnight and realized that I was sick. I do not remember if I had thrown-up before I left for work, but I do remember bringing a bucket with me that I used several times that night. The next day I was talking to Susan, bothered by the fact that the station had no fill-in person. Susan had told me that she would like to learn how to do a radio show, so when I talked to the program director the next day, I told him that I would never bring a bucket to work again. If I was sick I would call him, OR my wife is interested in learning radio, and if he was interested, I could bring her to work with me and she could learn to be a fill-in person for such emergencies. He thought that it was a good idea, so Susan arrange to have a friend to be with the kids while they slept and came with me a couple of times a week to learn radio. At that time, Susie Hanson was doing the morning show, so the program director (Todd Nelson) said Susan would not be able to use "Susan" as her radio name because THAT name was already being used at the station by our morning show host. We thought of a few alternative, including "Dee Richards" (her middle initial and part of our last name) and "Esther Michaels" ( the title of a song that I had written). We were trying to decide what name would be best, and asked our to young children what name they liked. Without hesitation, they shouted out "Esther Michaels!" because they liked daddy's song by that name. So it was settled. Susan would be "Esther Michaels". When Susan was learning to be a DJ, we called our little sessions, the "Rick Obrien School of Broadcast". Sometimes I would run the board and have Susan talk, and others times I would have Susan run the board without talking. It is hard to do both things at once when you are beginning. I mapped out scripts with inflection markings, explaining how to say each word. The main problem that many people have starting off is being able to relax enough to sound natural. After Susan reached that point, she did great, and after a period of time, I moved to evenings and Susan to overnights. The air-staff was asking when the station would be doing more promotions, and the response from the station manager was, "When the sales staff starts selling more."  So, I asked if he could put me into sales to help get the sales up.  He didn't take me serious and hired someone else.  THAT sales person didn't last long and I asked to be put into sales again.  AGAIN, he hired someone that didn't last and finally, put me into sales.  I started getting trade for promotions and was the top sales person in my first month. I did well in sales and we were able to begin to do a few promotions again. It was shortly after this time that Todd (the Program Director) left the station and they were going to need to hire a new Program Director.  I asked the Station Manager about the job, and he told me that he would not consider me for the job because I was too valuable to him as a salesperson. We were feeling kind of stuck, so we checked out the other stations in town to see if there were any opportunities (there were four other stations). There was one station in town that was interested in me, and one that was interested in Susan. No one had two positions available, and none of the stations wanted to have an employee who's spouse was working for the competition. There was one little station outside of the Lewiston market that was interested in hiring us both, but I felt if we were going to move for a job, it made more sense to move to a big market, and we should move back to Seattle. The station owner (of the little station that we were visiting) thought it would be a mistake to move to Seattle ("where you'll be eaten up"). It would be better to be the Big Fish in the little pond. We thanked him for taking time to interview us, and we would consider his offer. When we took a trip back to Seattle, there seemed to be plenty of openings for radio positions at the time. So when we got home we made plans to move back to Seattle. Seattle Radio Where Did the Jobs Go? When we finally arrived back in Seattle, all of the openings that had been there on our visit, had disappeared. Now, the market was pretty tight. At Gary's house in Redmond I think that we had rented a storage unit to put all of our stuff in, and Susan and I and our two small children were staying in a bedroom at my brother Gary's house in Redmond. Susan and I were at my mom's house. Mrs. Graves (Rita's mom) was also visiting KRKO Our first break into the Seattle market came about after getting nowhere from dropping off our air-check tapes and resumes, and I decided to apply for a sales job at a small Everett station (KRKO).  My brother, Gary, showed me the want-ad in the newspaper, so I went and applied.  The person who interviewed me saw from my resume that I had grown up in Auburn, and said that he knew the new sales manager at KASY (the Auburn station).  He gave me the Sales Manager's name and suggested that I contact him, and tell him that he (the fellow in Everett) had sent me. When I got home I called John Lake, the Sales Manager at KASY, and set up an interview. KASY KASY was the radio station that we listened to when we were kids.  It was the local station that served Auburn,  Kent, Sumner and the surrounding area.  I remember going to a live remote at an Auburn car dealer to see the "Lancers" perform.  We also went to the pancake breakfast and stock yard show remote and the American Legion hall breakfast and Veteran's Day parade that KASY did live broadcasts from.  But the big KASY event was "radio bingo" my mom listened all the time and played to win a bag of groceries from Massey's Grocery Store. I went to KASY to apply for the sales job that the fellow at KRKO had told me about.  When I was waiting to interview with the Sales Manager I found out that they also needed an on air person (air talent).  Since I was there applying for the sales position, I thought it would seem flakey of me to tell them that I was interested in the on air position instead.  So when I got home I told Susan to go right in and apply for the job.  She did and was hired right away as the overnight D.J.  It was several weeks before I was finally hired as a sales person for the station.  We thought this was a good stable move for us.  Much of the staff had been there for many years.  I began doing a lot of cold calling, and had gotten a couple businesses on the air that hadn't advertised on the station for years.  Although they were happy with my performance, I found this to be a much tougher sell than KATW in Lewiston. We had been there for just a couple of months and we were feeling comfortable with the job that we were doing ... when we got the news.  The station was sold, and we would no longer have a job.  It all happened quickly (within days).  The station would immediately begin similcasting KBSG FM and we would be paid for the next 2 months as the sale went through. KIXI When KASY sold (to become the AM KBSG) Mike Webb contacted KASY because he was looking for board-ops to replace the automation at KIXI.  It was around 1989 and computer automation had not yet been developed, so they had a couple of clunky carousels that didn't always work well.  Mike Webb (the Program Director at KIXI) interviewed Susan and I for a couple of the weekend positions.  They weren't on-air positions, so it may have seemed like a step down, but it was a major Seattle station, which I felt would look good on a resume (regardless of the position).  However, we were not hired.  Mike thanked us for coming in, but told us that he was looking for people who could work both Saturday and Sunday.  Since Susan and I could not work on Saturdays (because of our religious restrictions), he didn't have anything for us.  So we focused on another "small market" station KENU in Enumclaw. Mom Gets a Camera I was in Idaho for six years (from 1981 till 1987) While I was away, my mom got a camera. When we moved back to Seattle my mom had the "camera bug". She was always pointing her camera at someone.  KENU The TV show Northern Exposure was set in Alaska, but the location of the actual shooting of the show was in Roslyn, Washington.  As I understand it, the idea of having the radio station (in the show) as a store front location, came about because the writers of the program had become familiar with KENU the Enumclaw station (which they would pass at times traveling to Roslyn. The building that KENU was in was at the center intersection of town (on the corner of Cole and Griffen) and use to be a department store.  It had front windows from the ceiling to the floor that looked out onto the main intersection of the little town.  That was where the studio was located.  The DJ was "on display" for everyone to see, with speakers playing outside the station to the outside street. We worked as the morning show team. We would turn the station on at 6am and begin with the "farm report" that I had recorded from an "answering machine type" message before we turned the station on. The format was contemporary country music. We also had traffic reports that would be called in every 15 minutes from 6 to 9 am. We were having fun with our program and were gaining a listener audience. We had been doing the show for a few months, and then told the program director that we would need to be gone for a little over a week for our fall religious holidays.   We had told the program director about this when he hired us.   However, he did not talk to the station manager about this, and the station manager told us that he would not allow us to be gone.  He said that if we went, we wouldn't have a shift when we got back.  I was a bit confused by his response and I asked him "Do you mean that you would fire us for observing a religious holiday."  He then seemed to become angry and responded "No, I am firing you right now!"  It seemed like an odd thing to do.  We had built up the listenership in the months that we had been there, and we were getting positive community reaction to our morning show.  Within a few days the station manager had taken over the morning show.  It seemed as if our request for time off was used as a reason (excuse) for him to take over the show that was growing in popularity. He did not retain the audience however, and in a year or two the station would go off the air, and I would once again have an interest in the station. About this time my Uncle Harry and Aunt Gladys came over from back east (New Hampshire) to visit.  Here is a video of that visit.  The boys sing several songs for everyone. A few weeks after we began doing the morning show at KENU, Mike Webb (from KIXI) called us up and said that he had decided to hire us for the Sunday board-op positions if we were still interested.  We said Yes, we were! and we began each working a Sunday shift at KIXI the following weekend.  After a while a full time position opened (temporarily) overnights.   This was a position that was reserved for a minority.  The person would work the overnight hours and prepare for the KIXI morning show.  Mike Webb They had hired a minority that only lasted a few weeks,  so Mike hired one of the other board-ops  (who didn't show). He asked me if I could fill in overnights and do show prep for him.   I told him that I would work the shift but I wanted to really produce the show.  I would prepare the entire show, and he could use as much or little as he chose.  He agreed to my proposal and I began producing bits, and gathering information. To my surprise Mike used everything that I prepared for him, and my fill-in position became a permanent one, as full time morning show producer. One day when I needed to ask the assistant engineer a question he said in a hushed voice "Did you know that Mike Webb is gay?" I said, "no" and proceeded to ask the question that I had come to him about.  He seemed surprised that I was not phased by this revelation that he had given me. At about the same time someone had given Susan the same "news". After a few days the topic came up when Susan and I were talking to each other. We thought it was odd that somehow this was a topic of gossip at the station. I am not sure if people thought that because we were religious (most everybody knew that we did not work on the Sabbath), we would be "shocked", or if there was another reason that they considered this would be of interest to us. Mike and I worked together at KIXI for probably a year before he was hired to be Program Director at KVI. Since Mike didn't like doing show prep, and that's what I loved to do, it was a great match. I produced all the bits, put together contests, gathered information, and picked out most of the music.  It was like having my own show, and having someone else (with a much better voice than mine) pull it all off.   Mike Webb's Last Day on KIXI This is a complete air-check of Mike's "last day" at KIXI.  On this air-check you can hear me in the background a couple of times, Susan and I are on the recorded bit for "Lindy Bend-Easy" and I am the one saying "Hello culture fans" in the "name that TV show theme" bit. Mike was leaving KIXI to be the Program Director for KVI.     Bobby Rich What a privilege it was to have been able observe some of the "masters" of radio.  When I was working overnights at KIXI I asked Bobby Rich if he would mind if I came into the studio to observe the morning show.  They (Kelly, Alpha, and Bobby - the i-guys) told me it was O.K., and I spent an hour or so ... several mornings in the corner of the studio. It was a wonderful education, and confirmed many things that I felt about producing radio.  To watch the creation of the "theater of the mind" unfold in front of me was a thrill. After Mike Webb left KIXI to become Program Director for KVI, Bobby Rich (Station Manager) appointed me Program Director at KIXI.  I continued to produce the morning show. We had our production manager host the show, and we had a few different hosts over the next year.  During that time KIXI had it's highest ratings in the station's history. Stations across the country called for my advice. It was unheard of for a "nostalgia" station to be in the top ten of a major market. I wasn't too helpful because I didn't think that I was doing anything special.  And maybe that was the secret. I didn't know any better, and I was programming the station like it was a Top 40 station (except for playing nostalgia music), because that's all I knew. Mike had an agreement with management when he started, that the station would not fill it's advertising with nursing homes and "senior products".  It was our intent to have a "young feel" to the station. No one wants to feel old ... even old people. It seems odd that programmers wouldn't know that. I REALLY enjoy programming, however, my favorite time on KIXI was when Mike and I worked together. KVI After Mike had gone over to KVI He gave me a call to see if I could do some fill-in work.  He knew that I had been on air before, and he needed someone to do a couple of over-night shifts. I did a couple of fill-in shifts in October and then for Thanksgiving.  KVI was a "Golden West" station owned by Gene Autry (the singing cowboy). The station played "Oldies" at the time. I had only been hired as a fill-in guy, and although I was invited to the "Christmas" party I did not attend. Not only was I a "new-hire" I didn't observe Christmas (Since I observed the Jewish holidays). I was surprised that even though I did not attend the party, the station still wanted me to have the gifts that were given; a nice set of glasses and a $500.00 savings bond. Since we didn't observe the holiday, at Christmas Mike decided to give the entire staff (at KVI) the holiday off, and he asked if Susan and I could fill in. So, Susan was also hired at KVI, and I believed we worked 36 hours (rotating six hour shifts back and forth plus playing some long pre-recorded Christmas programs). Since it was a holiday we were paid double-time. Here is my KVI "air check" from back then Here is Susan's "air-check"     Let me Buy It During the time that I was Program Director for KIXI, KENU (the Enumclaw station that Susan and I had worked at) went off the air for a brief time.  I stopped by the station to find out what was happening and met the station owner. He told me that he was wanting to sell the station. I asked him how much he wanted for it, and he said 100,000.00.  I had done sales for the station when Susan and I were there, and realized that I could realistically pay off the station in about three  to five years. We talked about the possibilities of buying the station over a period of time. He said that his main concern, was that he had worked with people before, like the fellow who had just left (leaving things in a mess). He was the guy who had fired Susan and I for asking to have religious days off. I assured the station owner (I think his last name was Riverman) That I could prove myself, by coming back to KENU as Sales Manager. That way he could see first hand what I would do. I would work for strictly a commission of my sales, so what was there to lose? I was generally finished (as Program Director) at KIXI for the day around noon, so at that time, I would drive to Enumclaw to KENU to be Sales Manager. This was the Spring of 1991. Upon beginning as Sales Manager, I put together a "sales folder" and began an incentive program for increasing sales. After a week or so, Riverman came to Enumclaw to check on how things were going. We had a bulletin board that big picture of a $50 dollar bill on it, with a sign that explained the $50 bonus that would be given for bringing your individual sales to a certain level.  Riverman said "Who authorized this?" I said, "I did" He said, "I didn't agree to this payment." and I told him he wasn't going to pay it. I was paying it as part of my sales incentive plan. I then went over the figures for the sales that had been generated in the past couple of weeks. I then explained my plan and projections. He seemed impressed at what I had accomplished in just a couple of weeks, then told me that he didn't want me to pay the bonuses; HE was going to pay them. Within two months I had increased sales over what they had been before by over 300%. The station was sounding better also. I began doing promotions and creating some excitement again.  Apparently the owners of the "Country Gold Network" became interested in the station.  The "Country Gold Network" was owned by a couple that were buying small stations along the I-5 corridor and similcasting their signal. There are a number of reasons why this was not a great idea, and the couple did not have any experience in radio. Riverman, however, wanted to sell. They made him an offer that he accepted, and my purchase plan did not happen, although a few years later, I would once again make an offer on the station.   Bobby Rich lost his job as Station Manager of KMGI and KIXI and the decision was made to sell both stations, as a new interim General Manager took control. The new GM had zero background in programming, and decided to let the station be run completely by the network automation. Therefore, there was no need for a Program Director. I was out of a job as the station was put up for sale. Station Rotation Shortly after this time KVI changed formats and became a news-talk station. So, Mike Webb was out of a job.  However, KIXI was sold to Sandusky Broadcasting (in Belevue) and they hired Mike to once again be Program Director for KIXI. In the mean time, I was doing a lot of work running the board for KVI, which (after letting all their DJs go) had an extremely small staff. Although I was busy working at KVI, Mike once again would hire me to produce his morning show for KIXI. For a short period of time I was working more than 40 hours a week at each station (about 100 hours a week - all the while never working from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset - for religious beliefs)  I would drive to one station sleep on the floor (somewhere) for a couple of hours, do a full shift (plus) and then drive to the other station and do the same thing, and then go back to the first one.  It was a lot of work. After about a month KVI made Susan and I an offer to be part of the new News Team and I left KIXI.              Brian Jennings The person that I was able to learn the most from, when it comes to planning and executing a format is Brian Jennings.  He was a brilliant programmer that could envision the product and make it happen.  He systematically went about forming all the elements, beds and liners.  He knew exactly what elements he would need and his promo placements all worked to achieve his objectives.  We had next to no staff at all when we switched formats from Oldies to News Talk and yet we sounded as if we had a big newsroom full of people. Mike Siegel There are those who are masters at their craft.  This was Mike Siegel and talk radio.  Siegel knew just what to do to get the phones ringing. He knew how to lay the information out, build the suspense and ask the question. Although he was extremely passionate and had high standards, he treated you as an equal and an important part of the broadcast, no matter what your job was. Ruby Ridge On Friday, August 21st, 1992 while I was preparing a few things for the Mike Siegel Show, just before 3:00pm, Leonard came into the studio and said "Mike wants you to try to get a hold of someone". I asked "Who does he want me to call?" ... "He doesn't know."  "What do you mean he doesn't know?"  "There's something happening at a place called Ruby Ridge." Where's that?" "I think it's in Idaho." At this point I started grumbling. Mike wanted me to call a place called Ruby Ridge, and he didn't even know where it was. I was suppose to find someone to go on the air and talk about something that was happening. I thought, "What a waste of time." This was before the internet, and we had no phone book for Idaho that I could find, so I would need to call 411 (Information) and get a few phone numbers to call. I am still grumbling as I tried to narrow down the search a little, finding out that the place was probably in northern Idaho. Susan and I had moved to Idaho (so she could be near her folks) just before our first child was born (in 1983). We lived there for six years (3 in Coure d' Alene and 3 in Lewiston) The only town that I was familiar with in the area that Ruby Ridge SEEMED to be was Bonners Ferry. I took a deep breath and grumbled a bit more how this was a big waste of time and called the operator. Although you were only suppose to ask for a maximum of two phone numbers, I convinced the operator to give me three.  I can not remember exactly what I asked for, but they were things like the library, police, and city hall. She gave me the numbers. I don't think that I got an answer from the first number that I called. So, on to the second one. "Hi, my name is Rick Richardson, calling from KVI in Seattle." Before I could say anything else, the lady on the phone said, "You must be calling about what's happening at Ruby Ridge." I was not expecting that. After a brief pause of unbelief I said, "Yes I am." At this point, no one had the story. It wasn't on the AP news wire, or on any news station. I am not sure how Mike had found out about it, but we now had a story unfolding on the air as it was happening.  I had (by chance) called the local command center. I don't know if the person was the official communication person, but she certainly knew what was happening and was willing to go on the air and line up others to go on the air.  I began waving my arms for Mike to take a brake. For the next three hours it was unbelievably captivating radio. Mike Siegel was asking questions that were exposing one of the biggest law enforcement blunders in American history. Our phones were dead. Not because no one was listening, but because EVERYONE was listening, and didn't want to miss anything by calling in. At the end of the show the phones exploded with calls. What an honor to be in the middle of a story that not only defined the Mike Siegel Show, but also KVI as the nations first conservative talk station, and modern talk radio in general, breaking a story before anyone else knew it was even happening. This was the best day of my radio career. To understand the magnitude and for more information on Ruby Ridge check out these links: Encyclopedia of Britannica Wikipedia Vicki Weaver as seen from a USMS surveillance position on August 21, 1992 Susan on Star 101.5 The Plan to Buy a Radio Station Susan and I worked different shifts, She was doing the morning and I was doing the evening. One day I decided to come up early with the kids so we could all go the the Seattle Science Center. After our outing, I went to work, and Susan went home with the kids.  On her way home she was rear-ended by a car that was coming onto the freeway, and it totaled our Honda Civic. Bryan's scar They all went to the hospital, although no one was seriously injured. However, it was enough to get a bit of money in an insurance settlement. Bryan (Because of a scar left on his arm) would get 10,000.00 when he turned 18 and Jessica got a smaller amount.  Susan was also awarded some money and we ended up with 10,000.00 in the bank that we decided to use for the down payment on a radio station. n the mean time, my brother-in-law (Dave) enquired if he could "use" the money. I He knew a guy that was buying pallets of boxed cereal from one grocery store, and selling it to another. Apparently sometimes a store will sell an item below cost as a way to draw in customers. If you buy the items from the store that is selling them below cost, you could then turn around an re-sell them to another store and make a profit. It all sounded a bit fishy to me, but he was guaranteeing to pay everything back (which he always did). So, Dave "used" the money and we began to explore the possibilities of buying a station. #1 / Cowboy Boots It wasn't long before KVI was the #1 Radio Station in Seattle. The amazing thing about this, is we sounded like we had a big news staff, but it was just smoke and mirrors. We had just a few people doing everything. I would pass out news stories to the FM DJs and even the sales staff to record. Golden West was the name of the company that owned us at the time. The owner was Gene Autry who had a net worth of about 500 million dollars when he died (October 2,1998). He always took good care of his employees. Gene Autry became famous as "the singing cowboy", so when the station became #1, all of us were given a gift certificate to go to the western supply store and pick out a pair of cowboy boots. Rush in Seattle Rush Limbaugh did his show live one day from the KVI studio in Seattle. I ran the show like it was a normal day, where I would just pot up the slider for the satellite feed of the show. Except this wasn't a normal day. I had to listen to everything with my headphones on. A talk show is fed to the station with a six second delay. So I was playing the (delayed) feed along with all the Spots and traffic and news reports, while at the same time, in the same room, on the same board, there were two or three other people screening phone calls, and sending the audio to the network. It was hard to HAVE to ignore the famous person (just a few feet away from me) on the other side of the glass, so I could concentrate on listening to the show six seconds after everyone else in the room was hearing it. It was a crazy three hours. Change I attended the World Wide Church of God from the time I was seven years old. We were non-Trinitarian, observed the Saturday Sabbath and kept the Jewish Holydays, rather than the Christian Holidays. In 1980 I met my wife at a “Feast of Tabernacles” in Spokane Washington. We had two children and by 1990, in our local church in Tacoma, Washington (of about 200 people), I was the president of the men's speaking club, director of the children's choir, and one of the song-leaders for the congregation. All was good. Within a year or so, everything change. The founding leader of the church had died and the new leaders made the decision to become more mainstream in the Christian faith. Some congregations began to celebrate Christmas and Easter and changed their day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. Tapes were sent out to explain the doctrine of the Trinity. When I found myself yelling at my tape recorder, I realized I needed to do some studying and determine exactly what I believed and why I believed it. All my time (when I wasn't working) was spent studying my Bible, evaluating my beliefs. Why was I keeping "Jewish" holidays? Was it just because the church told me to?  If so, why wasn't I accepting what the church was telling me now?  But if not, what was the reason? I had spent nearly my whole life being different from everyone around me. Susan and I worked with a few Jewish people, and we wondered what perspective they may have that we could learn from.   The Internet Also, at this time, a new development happen.  It was called the internet. "Search engines" began to show up where you would be able to type in an entry and search for websites on the internet.  There were a number of competing search engines and the information was not always the same, so it was best to use several search engines to find something. I did a search for "Jewish" and "Judaism"  ... and I actually got some responses ... Three to be exact. I did a search for "Judaism" today and there were "about 31,900,000 results (0.43 seconds)"  But back then, there were just three and I was thrilled. The first few searches, however, for anything Jewish were not too productive; there was a lot of "fringe" information that tended to be unreliable. But as search engines began to develop, more information became available. Yahoo emerged as the leader, but then they added more "stuff" to their page.  Then Google took over as the preferred search engine taking on the simple design that Yahoo once had. The Laura Lee Show One of the rather interesting shows that I screened calls and board opped for, was the Laura Lee Show. This was an "alternative" perspective on issues ranging from aliens visiting earth, natural health, and new age philosophy. If I remember right it was an all night show that went from 10PM Saturday night, till 5AM Sunday morning. You can see me in the above picture (screening a phone call).   Someone to Blame Every now and then, when something goes wrong, you need to blame SOMEONE.  In April of 1993, I was running the evening shift. As the evening person, I was responsible for doing the newscast at the top of the hour, gathering news for the morning, and assigning 5 to 10 voicers (20-40 second stories/reports) and running the board for all the syndicated programs. The usual procedure was to get my newscast ready, then read the news at the top of the hour. Then there is usually a commercial or two before the show begins, at which time I would pot up the audio for the show and cross fade into the program. Everything works nicely. One night, however, when I potted up the show, the audio was different than what it should have been. I quickly looked to see if I had the right pot on. Yes, everything looked good.  Maybe they have changed the intro. No, it was definitely the wrong program. I potted the  audio down and played a PSA or some other audio and double checked the pot settings. Everything on the board looked good. The problem must be back in engineering where something was being routed wrong. I ran back to engineering to see if there was anything obvious that I could "fix". Although I knew where the router was for the audio that I was trying to bring up, there was no list indicating what the settings for particular shows should be. During this time of running back and forth, I am making several phone calls, but no one was answering at first. Finally the engineer (Eric) answered the phone. He said that he would be right down to fix the problem. I was also in contact with the Mike Siegel Show (this was his national evening show that he ran from a studio in his home), letting them know that we were having "technical difficulties". I think all in all, we entered the program about five or six minutes late. Before leaving my shift I left a note explaining what had happened, and made the suggestion that we post a list of all the show settings in the back, so if the settings are wrong they can be quickly reset, so as not to disrupt the programming.  All in all, I felt I had acted quickly and had done exactly what I needed to do to get the proper program on the air. However, the next day or so I received a letter from the Program Director: According to THIS version of events, I apparently sat around waiting for someone to come to fix the problem.  In reality I was running back and forth between the studio and engineering, calling on the studio phone (no cell phones back then) looking for a setting list (which didn't exist for some reason) and kept running extra PSAs to keep us on the air with audio. The show usually started at 9:06pm. I think it was about 9:11 or 9:12 however, by the time we got the router switched to the proper setting. The next day, they had followed my advice and put up a setting list in engineering. I was bothered, however, by the fact that the settings had been changed in the first place, why would someone have done such a thing? I inquired of the folks in engineering to see if they knew the answer. Brian (the Program Director) had just hired a new person - Ken Lundberg. It was Ken's first day and Brian had been showing Ken around the station. The Engineers later told me that it had in fact been the Program Director that had changed the settings on the router that the Mike Siegel Show came over, when he was demonstrating to Ken, the new employee, how things work.  In fact, the problem was CAUSED by the Program Director himself. I had thought it was strange when I had been reprimanded for actions that I believed I should have been praised for. I now understood why.  SOMEONE needed to be blamed. Although there was a tendency to find a scapegoat to shift the blame, Brian Jennings was brilliant and I enjoyed working for him. He would give us opportunities and I believe there was a mutual respect. When he left KVI and was replaced (as PD) by Jim Casale, Brian became a consultant for a number of radio stations. Not too long after becoming a consultant for a station in Oregon, Brian contacted Susan and I and wanted us to come down to be interviewed. We drove down one day and when we arrived they put us up in a hotel and took us out to dinner at the country club. The next day they gave us a tour of the station and told us about the jobs that they needed to fill.  Although the staff seemed very nice and the facilities were great, the jobs didn't seem like we were taking a step up. We told the folks "Thank you very much, we will think it over". It just didn't seem to make much sense for us to move to Oregon, to a smaller market, unless we were making a pretty big step up. I was never in contact with Brian after that point. Mike Webb is Murdered Mike Webb After a couple of years, Mike Webb left KIXI and eventually began doing a liberal talk show on KIRO. I was producing conservative talk shows on KVI and Mike was hosting a liberal talk show on KIRO. I had hoped that we would run into each other again at some point, but we never did.  One day I heard the news that Mike Webb was missing. After about two months he was found murdered (he had been put into the crawl space under his house). Mike had a big heart and he was apparently trying to help a homeless person, by giving him a place to stay. The person that he was trying to help was the person who murdered him. His murderer was convicted in 2007 to twenty years in prison.   Buying a Radio Station - Our Second Attempt About this time I discovered that the FCC had a list of "dark" stations; stations that were "off the air". When a station "goes dark" the owner has a certain amount of time to get it back on the air before  the license is lost. Usually when that happens, the FCC will not issue a new license; the available frequency is just lost. So, it is a good opportunity to buy a radio station. I found a radio station (KAPA) in Raymond, WA that had gone dark. So, we went on a little road trip to Raymond to check it out. We found the place that the station had been at. It was a bit of a mess. But that was Okay, because we were not intending to keep the station there anyway. We had found the perfect location, on the main highway with a building that would work great for a radio station. We contacted the engineer, and he gave us his opinion on what would be needed to get the station up and running. We even had a verbal agreement on using his services when we got it up and running. The total asking price was 25,000.00. With our $10,000.00 that we had set aside this should be a real do-able deal. I talked to the owners, and gave them my pitch. Because the station was dark and they were running out of time, it seemed to me that they would be jumping at the deal. I decided to have an oldies station. It seemed to make the most sense. I even Got the Coast Guard to release the call letters KNWO (it had been assigned to the ship "Pernell T. White") Our identifier was Continuous North West Oldies. Here was our Business Proposal   Station Lost Forever In the end, the owners did not accept our offer, saying they had a "better offer". Apparently that offer did not come through, because the station was never purchased and the license and signal were lost. The station remained off the air, never to return. Kirby Wilbur Kirby's Talk Show host career began as a caller. "Kirby on a car phone". Kirby had been involved in state politics and always had a good comment to make.  When he became a delegate for the national Republican convention, the Mike Siegel show used Kirby as our "correspondent". Soon he was used as a fill-in host when Mike was off, and eventually had his own daily talk show; a three hour nightly program on KVI.  I was his producer. "Uncle Dave" Uncle Dave's car phone My brother-in-law was always the first with new technology, so, of course, he was the first to have a "car phone" a great big receiver with a battery case that had to be carried around ... way cool.    This is Samuel Bacciocci Another thing that my brother-in-law would do is call me up on the phone and start of by saying, "Hi, this is ..." then he would give some celebrities (or someone else that we knew) name. I would say, Hi, Uncle Dave! and we would start our conversation. There was an author that we both knew that had written a book about the Sabbath named Samuel Bacciocci. This author had just written a book about the Biblical Holydays that we had both read. One day I answered the phone, and the person said "Hello, this is Samuel Bacciocci"  I was sure that my brother-in-law was calling me (using one of his fake accents) so I naturally responded "Hi, Uncle Dave"! I got a response back, "No, this is Samuel Bacciocci." I said Ohhhh, O.K., What do you need Uncle Dave? He then once again insisted that he was Samuel Bacciocci. We went back and forth a couple more times before I realized that this was not my brother-in-law after all, but was indeed Samuel Bacciocci!  He had apparently got my number from someone and was calling me to ask for help in promoting his new book. After hearing of this, every time my brother-in-law would call over the next few months he would say "Hello, this is Samuel Bacciocci" Time to Move The World Wide Church of God had now strayed so far from the where they had once been doctrinally, it became evident that we could no longer attend the church with a good conscience. It was time to find some place (even if temporary) where we would feel comfortable. It was time to move. The "Home" church We attended a little home church for a period two and a half years (beginning around 1993). It was part of "The Church of God International". We showed up at the house and there was a family of 6 and three older couples. The one in charge (Crystal) asked me if I wanted to take over as host of the service. I declined. A few weeks later a traveling Pastor, who was in charge of the "region" persuaded me to become the new church "host" in order to assist him with the small group.  As the next few weeks went by we began to grow in numbers and decided it would be a good idea to rent a hall for our Sabbath service.   The group quickly grew to between 30 to 50 people each week. Along with the number of people we had, came the number challenges to deal with.  I was having a variety of people speak.  Almost all of the local men would be encouraged to give a "sermonette" on a rotating basis.  Each week someone would speak for about 15 minutes or so, before the Sermon that was a video tape (45 to 60 minutes) sent out to all the little congregations that did not have a local pastor. I began to develop an operations and procedure manual, and planned local activities and outings.  Susan put together classes and activities for the kids and organized potlucks flowers and decorations.  We organized  a church library and a "special music" schedule.  I bought a sound system and song books. Susan and I were both working full time. We were contributing most of the funds to our small group. I never told anyone that I was the one paying for most everything at that time.  It didn't seem important to let anyone (other than our small circle) know. I think that they believed "headquarters" was somehow funding things. I was renting a hall, buying equipment, and doing the best that I could to provide help to people that didn't know where else to go. I was organizing and setting everything up for the service. We were trying to plan social activities. Susan was providing a "Sabbath class" for the children. Picking Up the Widows We had a couple of widows in our group that did not drive. So, every Saturday morning I would get up early and drive in opposite directions to pick them up. I would pick up Doris first, She lived about 40 or so miles to the South (around Olympia), and it took about an hour (in one direction). I would drop Doris off at our house and she would ride to church with Susan, as I headed north about 20 minutes to the north to pick up our other widow. There were a few people who lived in the south who would volunteer on occasion to take Doris home afterward. Doris What Do We Do with Our Third Tithe? In the World Wide Church of God Each year you put aside at least 20% of your income for tithes. The First Tithe, would be the 10% that you send down to headquarters in Pasadena. You would also save a Second Tithe, which you would spend for the feasts (primarily the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall). Each year we would take a week off from work and school and go to some resort town; staying in hotels. We would give and get gifts, have all sorts of activities, go out to eat at restaurants, and do many things we would not normally be able to do, because we were spending about 10% of our years income in about a week. It was always the highlight of the year. However, about once every three years (the 3rd and 6th year of a 7 year cycle) there would ALSO be a Third Tithe. This was an ADDITIONAL amount that was sent to headquarters to be used for the widows and orphans, and people in need.  The year after we decided to leave the World Wide Church of God we were entering our Third Tithe year. So, we had the obvious question; what do we do with our Third Tithe? So, we decided to use 10% of our income to help others ourselves. So, every month we had between 400 and 500 dollars that we had to spend on helping someone in need. It was a very satisfying thing to do. Someone need glasses. Someone had a credit card that need to be paid off. Someone needed a porch built. Someone need car repairs. There was always some way to help someone else. Our objective was to have the money spent by the end of each month. In addition we were saving both our Second Tithe for the upcoming Feast and our First Tithe (we contributed to several organizations).  You would think that living on just 70% of your income would be an impossible thing to do, and yet because of all the extra work we were able to do,  we were earning more money than we had ever earned. Not ONLY were we able to live off 70%, I also paid off my student loan with that amount. The "Church Assistance Fund" We had earned a LOT of money that year, so we had more money to go to the feast than we had ever had. Susan and I had discussed how we might make this feast extra special for the kids and maybe get them something real nice as "feast gifts". However, we found out that their was a family in our little group that would not be able to attend the feast because of lack of funds.  They usually used a "time share" apartment for their feast accommodations, but this year there was none available, and they did not have the funds to rent a hotel. Susan and I discussed the situation and quickly came to the decision of giving half of our feast money to them.  We had enough money to make ends meet with just half, and even though the "extras" we had planned could not happen, we could not imagine going to the feast and spending all that money on gifts and outings, when they would not even be able to attend! The question was, how do we get them to accept the money? We didn't think that they would feel comfortable accepting the money if they knew it was our personal money, so I grabbed a container. I wrote a check and put it into the container. "There!, We have just donated to our 'feast assistance fund'!"  So, by creating a "feast assistance fund", we could tell them THAT was where the money was coming from. It was a good plan. They accepted the funds and were so happy and thankful to receive it. We knew we had made the right decision. About a week later, they came to us very excited!  They just found out that one of the time shares had opened and they were able to stay there for the feast after all, and now with the additional funds they received from the "church assistance fund" they would be able to have the "best feast ever"! During the feast, it seemed very odd. We had to fight with feelings of being resentful. We had given away half of our feast money, and were unable to buy our kids the nice gifts, and go horse-back riding and do some of the other activities. Susan and I realized however, that when we put the money into the container and designated it as the "feast assistance fund", it was no longer our money and whatever circumstances changed after that point didn't matter. We determined to be happy when we saw them getting nice gifts and going horse-back riding; in reality however, it was a hard thing to do. The Feast of Tabernacles at Whistler Mountain The Feast of Tabernacles site for Church of God International was at Whistler Mountain (a ski resort in British Columbia, Canada) I think that there was around a hundred people attending this site. Our second year there, the United Church of God also had a feast-site at Whistler. I thought it would be a neat idea to have a joint activity, so I contacted the "festival coordinator" for both CGI and UCG (Robert Palmer and David Treybig) and tried to "sell" my idea. The pitch worked I guess because we arranged to both meet at a big indoor swimming pool at the same time.  Most people were very happy with the chance to meet up with "old friends". Half way through the feast David Palmer had to fly off to another site, so he left me in charge at Whistler. Things seemed to go well.     Children:   William Bryan and Jessica Dawn The Rabbi Daniel Lapin Show Rabbi Daniel Lapin was an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi that had filled in for Rush Limbaugh He had lived (and had a congregation) in Venice California, but had moved to the Seattle area in about 1994, because he liked boating. He began doing a weekly program at KVI and I was assigned to be his producer. Ocean Shores I began to consider something different for a future feast. After the Church of God break-up, the "Feast of Tabernacles" (that had always been a time for families to get together) had smaller feast sites, with every break-away church having their own sites.  But what if there was a feast site that was not run by ANY of the the groups and that EVERYBODY would be welcomed at. My brother, Gregory, and his wife had come back from a weekend at Ocean Shores one day, and told me about a new convention center that had recently been built.   I called the Ocean Shores Convention Center and enquired about the expense, to see if setting up a feast site there, was feasible.  I found out that I could rent the entire place for ten days for a total price of $2,000.00 (10% down with the remainder 30 days before the event).  I also enquired how far in advance that I could reserve the facility. I could reserve it for five years in advance, so I did. The plan was to have representative from each of the break-away churches, so that families could all go to the same feast-site again. A few of the ministers in the various organizations liked the idea, but it didn't go over well with the churches headquarters.  The main question was "Who would get the offering money?" So none of the major groups were willing to be represented. So, I had a convention center reserved for the next five years, with a deposit down on the first year, with no idea of who would speak or who would attend. At this time, we were living in a 10' x 36' trailer. There wasn't a lot of room, however, we still had room for a studio in the front 6 feet of the trailer. It's Just the Way You Are During this time all of our new attendees were former members of WWCG. Many of the ministers from the old WWCG were strict and authoritative, so I was not interested in being a church pastor. However, I thought that one of the many ministers that were leaving WWCG would join ICG and I would simply be able to turn everything over to him. That never happened. However, apparently some of the folks that were joining us were waiting for a "real" minister from the WWCG tradition, and a few people questioned why I had the "authority" to lead "the church". I thought that was an odd question. I wasn't trying to lead anyone. I certainly wasn't trying to tell anyone what they should or should not do. At that time we had a person join our group who would become a challenge. He had formally attended the Seattle WWCG, and (as I would find out) had a history of creating difficulties. He was going around to all of the members with his own agenda. When I asked what they were unsatisfied with, the response was "It's just the way you are".  It seems that the controversy was over the behavior of my two children. There were some who believed that my son and daughter, who were just 15 months apart in age, would pick on each other too much. I would agree with that assessment. Everything was a bit of a challenge.  As such, our new attendee felt I was "unqualified", and when he became more demanding, the circuit pastor from Vancouver BC suggested that he should tell him to find another place where he would be more comfortable. I felt that it would be better to reason out whatever differences he might have and arranged a meeting to discuss any misunderstandings.  When I arrived at his apartment for the meeting, he took everything over with a stack of papers that he had prepared. It became a bit of a nightmare, I tend to think that people are naturally good. When it becomes evident that a person is simply abusive and dishonest, I am at a loss of exactly what to do. He seemed to have poisoned everything. Susan and I and the entire church council decided to break ties with the headquarters church. Because I did not want to put our members in the middle of a conflict, I instructed the council to not tell the members what our trouble-making member had said and done. Rather we allowed him to contact everybody with his version of the story. If they were interested in the truth, they could ask; no one ever did. Within a couple of days, a nice older couple was instructed by the "trouble-maker" to contact me, and pick up all the "church equipment". I knew that they were going to try to continue meeting each week and would need some of the basic things. I told them to meet me at the storage unit where I had the equipment that we used. When they arrived I opened the doors and asked them "What do you need?" they replied by saying they were instructed to get "everything".  I told them, "You know, that none of this is "church property", I purchased everything in this storage unit, but I want you guys to have what you need, So, again, What do you need?" I gave them half of the hymn books, the video and audio tape library, a church emblem that I had made and a few other things. I am not sure that they realized how much effort it takes to be a facilitator, and I don't think their little group lasted that long. KENU For Sale Again In 1995 KENU in Enumclaw became available again. We were set to do this. We had the $10,000.00 for the down set aside, and we were hoping to sign an agreement to pay the balance of $90,000.00 over the next five years. We were eager to take over the station operations. However, out of nowhere (it seemed) Green River Community College made an offer of $40.000.00 cash buy-out for the station that the owners accepted. I had not even known about this, until the deal was done. The college had originally planned to operate the station as a "farm" station to train broadcasting student at.  The plan did not work out and the station ended up moving onto the Auburn CRCC campus, not really serving much purpose. One More Attempt We would make one more attempt at making an offer on a radio station. There was a station in Lakewood, just south of Tacoma, that was in a Korean population.  My plan was to have a foreign (Korean) music station. I was surprised to find a lot of pretty good Korean pop music.  That offer also never came through. Looking back at all the offers that we made, I have concluding that every offer was exactly the right offer to make. It just wasn't meant for us to own a station at that time.    Management Changes At work (KVI) Brian Jennings was replaced, as Program Director, by Jim Casale. Jim had come from another talk station (in another market) and made several changes to the line-up, including eliminating the morning news block and moving Kirby Wilber to the mornings. I liked Jim. Years later, he would be part of a home fellowship with Susan and I and would accompany us on a couple of our trips to Israel. However, Jim was not the "programming genius" that Brian Jennings was. I believe that it was around this time that Golden West sold KPLZ (Star 101.5) and KVI to Fisher Broadcasting. Fisher owned KOMO Radio and TV. After Fisher took over they "adjusted" the pay scale, and categorized each individual into a specific position. Susan and I had our pay drop from $12 and hour to $8 dollars an hour. They also cut hours. So, in about one week we were earning less than half of what we had been earning. At the time Susan was also doing an on air DJ shift on Star 101.5 and doing production (both jobs paid more than the "board-op" category that they had put us into). I believe it was the program director for Star (Kent Phillips) who complained about this to management, and they agreed to pay Susan $8 an hour when she was running the board, $12 an hour when she was on the air, and $20 an hour when she was doing production. I began to take on additional hours at other radio stations to make up the pay that I had lost. After a year or so, Jim Casale was replaced by Tony Minor, as PD for KVI. Tony came over from Metro Traffic (he was the director over there at the time). Tony was doing the morning top of the hour newscast during Kirby Wilber's show and Mitch Brotherton was running the board. One day, the big news around the station was Mitch had won the state lottery! I believe it was five million dollars. Mitch liked his job, however, and decided to continue to work. Although Mitch continued to run the board for the morning show, he began to loose interest in it, and would be "down the hall" (at the FM station) instead of running the board. Tony Minor asked me if I could start running the board for the morning show. I initially told him no, because I was waiting for a producer position to open up that I could apply for (because of the pay difference between the positions). Tony said that they needed me in the mornings and I would get a pay raise. So I moved to mornings. Susan had been doing more production, and she was asked if she could start doing the Public Affairs program (The Pulse of Puget Sound). I believe someone else had been doing it before that point. Susan agreed, and the both of us began doing the program for KVI and Star 101.5, and eventually for KOMO also. Kirbyviews My job on the morning show was to "run the board", although it was much more than just pushing buttons.  I would select the bumper music, drops, parody songs, and any other transitional material that would get us in and out of the talk segments.  For this I had an extensive music library and a large amount of audio cuts.  I would also record all of the interviews so if the guest made an interesting statement, I could play a little snip over the bumper music going back into the next segment. For this I had a recorder set up to ONLY record the guest (for quick edits). One day after an interview I thought that this topic would be good to cover on the stations public affairs program. Susan and I did a half an hour program for Fisher Broadcasting called "The Pulse of Puget Sound" [ it ran Sunday morning around 6:00 am on KVI, KOMO, and Star 101.5 for over 10 years ] I realized that I didn't have to do another interview, because Kirby had already done one. Since the tape that I had recorded ONLY had the guest on it, it was easy to just record US asking the questions.  So all of the recordings of the interviews that I thought would be suitable for the weekend public affairs program, would be set aside for editing. The Pulse of Puget Sound     The Economy Earthquakes These two Programs were NOT Kirbyviews Susan lined up all the interviews for the public affairs program and on occasion when a guest for the show would cancel, Susan would ask if we had any "kirbyviews". They seem to come together really easy and sounded great too, so we ended up doing a "kirbyview" about once a month or so. LIVE TALK with Rick Richardson I had begun doing a Cable TV Show around 1995.  It was called "Live Talk with Rick Richardson". The show basically supported traditional values, and used the news of the day to explain my positions.  It was a live call-in talk show, and I was the only one running the entire program. Which means; I was the camera man, the control room operator, the call screener, and the host (all at the same time). I did the show from a small studio. There was a black curtain behind me, and two cameras (pointed towards me) in front of me; for a close-up shot and one that was a little further out. On the table that I was sitting at (out of view) there was a camera switcher and a phone (that I believe had three in-coming lines). When the show would "go live" I would begin with the wider shot, and then as I was doing my intro, I would switch to the close-up. After introducing my topic for the day, I would begin to take phone calls.  Since there was no one else to screen calls, all of the calls went directly on the air. On occasion, (when I would remember) I would switch my cameras show it would not be so static. If ANYTHING went wrong I need to fix it (on the fly). The quality of the show would have been much better if I had a staff doing all the various jobs, but I didn't have anyone so I enjoyed the challenge of being a "one man band". Once people realized that they were going directly LIVE on the air (without a call screener) there would be a couple of people who would call in just to see if they could use profanity before I was able to cut them off. A lot of the time I was able to recognize their voice and quickly go to another caller, but after a period of time I began to focus more on my monologues and took fewer phone calls. Jim During the first year of the show I was contacted by Jim (Setrin - I think).  He was a hermaphrodite (he/she was both sexes, having both male and female sexual organs) This is a situation where you truly have to choose what sex you want to identify with, because you truly are both and neither at the same time.  Jim identified as a male, but he had been taken advantage of (sexually), his entire life, and had contracted the AIDS virus. He was in a facility for AIDS patients, and was confined to a hospital bed. Our Fellowship phone number was shown at the end of the program, and Jim began to call me up. He may have a question about something that I had said on the show, but for the most part, I was a "friend" on the TV that he could talk to. Sometimes Susan would answer the phone and he would spend time talking with her. Susan and I began to visit Jim (at the AIDS facility) once every couple of weeks. We would drive up to Seattle and spend an hour or two visiting.  I seems like we visited Jim for about six months to a year. I can not remember what the situation was that stopped our visits, but I think he moved to another facility or a family member's home and we lost contact. Hi Rick! It would always surprise me to find out how many people would actually watch my little program. On occasion, someone at work would make a comment about what had happened on my program the following day, and one time when I was visiting my brother, his neighbor said "Hi Rick!" as I got out of my car. I looked at him, trying to figure out how I might know him, when he said "I watch your show on TV".  Kelly While I was running the board for the KVI morning show, a couple of the other board-ops at the station warned me about Kelly. He was a new board-op that had told them, that he wanted my job, and started to say things that were untrue. When he would arrive too late to work and not have enough time to que up a show, he would tell the Program Director (Casey Keaton) that I had not recorded the show properly (when of course I had). He would also accuse me of other things.  I did not address the issue, because I thought the truth was obvious. One day however, Casey called me into his office and recited all of the things that Kelly had told him. I thought this was all a bit crazy, because with the smallest amount of checking he could find the truth. Casey responded by asking "Are you calling Kelly a liar?" I was surprised by his response. I wasn't calling anyone anything, so I responded by simply saying "no". I was certain he would check into the situation. Apparently, he never did. I was out as the morning board-op and Kelly was in. I told Jim Flack (the executive producer, who did the scheduling) to never schedule me to work with Kelly. Even though I believe that God is in control of everything, and I should not be angry with other people, I did not want to be around someone that I felt was so dishonest.  One day however, there was some emergency and they called me up to come in at work with Kelly. I said that I was very sorry for their situation, but I would not come in to work with Kelly. So Jim called the Program Director (Casey) and then called me back to say, "Casey says you have no choice, you have to come in and work with Kelly". I responded by saying that "I do have a choice, and it is not to work with Kelly". I was not sure if I would loose my job over this, but nobody ever said another word about it. What happened to Kelly (the person I felt was dishonest)?  eventually he was fired from the station for stealing station equipment and selling the equipment on e-bay. Explorers It was just about a month before the feast, when we separated from CGI, and we needed to figure out what we were going to do. We decided since we were going to start our Ocean Shores feast site the next year (in 1995) we would do an exploratory feast.  Crystal and her family had made plans to attend another location, so we ended up with just twelve people (including one of the widows - Doris). Shortly after the Feast, Doris moved, I think to be closer to her daughter, in a different state. We used cassette tape messages that I had selected for our "sermons" each day, and had a very enjoyable week. For the next year, as it turned out, none of the ex-WWCG folks were interested in participating in a "representative" feast-site, so I began to ask around to find interested speakers. The second year Ken Westby from ACD spoke a couple of times, along with Doug Dolly who lead a small messianic group. I paid Samuel Bacciocci (an SDA minister who had recently  written a book about the Biblical Holidays) a fee to speak, had Ron Dart agree to overnight his first Sermon given at his feast site that a would play a couple of days later, and I paid for Eddie Chumney's transportation and lodging (he had also written a book about the Holidays). In addition my brother worked with a person, who also managed a music and dance group called "Global Mode" whom I also booked. I filled in a spot or two that I was unable to completely fill. So, everything was planned; we just didn't know how many people would show up. As the date grew closer we were feeling more confident at having enough attendees, as we had many people tell us of their plans to attend. The first year about 150 people showed up. We continued the "feast site" at Ocean Shores, Washington for the next five years.  We flew speakers in from around the country.  We planned activities for everyone and provided children's classes for the kids and workshops for the parents.  We never charged anything for this event.   People made voluntary donations, and a few people contributed a bit more to make it all happen. The numbers grew a little each year so by the time year five came around there were over 250 people attending. This was a group of over 250 non-Jews, spending eight days in a remote town on the coast of Washington attending the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). Call The Elders I believe it was the last year (2000) that someone had come to me asking if I could come pray for a family member who had spend the last day or so in bed (unable to get up because of a bad back).  I questioned them as to why they were asking me to come and pray.  They said that "the Bible says to ask the elders of the church to pray for the sick".  I agreed to come, thinking that there would be a number of people there to pray and I could show support.  However, when I arrived, I discovered that they where thinking that "the elders" was me.  There was no one else there except for the family.  I was stuck.  I had already agreed to come and pray, so I said a quick unimpressive prayer, being as respectful as I could while feeling a bit awkward.  After I had finished, the person immediately got up and started walking around the room saying that the pain was gone.  If this had been one of my friends or family members, I would have thought it was a prank.  But I knew these people, and they were not the prankster type.  They thanked me, as I felt a little odd.   I had not felt anything.  You would think that if putting your hands on someone had something to do with them being "healed" you should at least feel something.  I didn't.  I was surprised when she got up.  It seemed a bit scary in a way. Although I believe in faith-healing, I just didn't believe that I could possibly be the one involved in the "healing" process. Since that time I have been more willing to pray for people who are sick or injured, however, I am unaware of any other incident that was as miraculous as that one. Fellowship and Ministry Without the ties to "parent" organizations, we began to explore Judaism as the historic roots of Christianity.   Since the organizations that we had belonged to, kept the Sabbath and Biblical (Jewish) holidays, it seemed logical to study more about the commonality and differences of the two beliefs.  We formed two organizations; Fellowship of Messiah (a local congregation) and Christian Renewal Ministries International, or CRMI ( a ministry and outreach to go beyond our local group). We continued to rent a Kent parks facility until it became more economical to lease our own. Crystal found a place in Federal Way that was just right for our needs.   This was the unit for our main meeting hall.  We had seating for around 60 with room for dancing up front. We hosted an Erev Shabbat service (Friday evenings) and spent more time on our Sabbath service. In addition, at our fellowship we hosted a monthly meeting of  "messianic" and "Hebrew roots" leaders from the Northwest. Around ten (or more) congregations were represented each time. There were times that our incomes would drop and either Crystal or my brother, Gregory would help finance the group. For the most part we seemed to be able to make ends meet.   Some Music We Sang at Our Fellowship   In addition to our main hall, we had a large dinning room, a store, three bathrooms, my office, a radio studio, a library,  a classroom, a business office, a lobby, and a storage room       Joseph Kamani In 1996 we recieved a letter from Joseph Kamani from Kenya. He had a Sabbath Keeping church and had discovered our group on the internet. He sent us a picture of his family and congregation, and we began to correspond. Our children made some friendship bracelets that we sent. Joseph had a number of places (besides his local congregation) in Kenya, that he was teaching the Sabbath to. Susan had begun to work for a friend (Ken Westby) as the executive secretary for his ministry. After telling Ken about Joseph, Ken set up a bank account that would help people who wanted to donate to Joseph's ministry. After a year or so, Joseph made a trip to the states to gather donations so he could purchase a bus (in Kenya) to help out in his ministry. While he was in town we made arrangements for him to stay with the Westbys, and Joseph and I talked about the plans and challenges that he was having.  Front:  Mary, Joseph, Esther and James Back:   Isaac and Simeon Joseph attended our Fellowship and spoke to the group. He said that one of the biggest helps would be having someone from the States come and talk about the Sabbath, because just being an American gives you a certain amount of credibility. I hope to make that trip someday, but have not done so yet. House Guests There was about a 3 year period of time that it seemed we always had a house guest. Our most frequent guest during this time was Perry Williams Perry Williams Perry Williams was a young black man (probably about 25 years old) from Chicago. Perry became acquainted with us through our web site, and corresponded with me through both the mail and telephone. Perry had decided to move to the Seattle area to get a job. He was going to be arriving on a Greyhound bus, and I told him that I could pick him up and transport him to where he needed to go, when he arrived. When Perry got into town, I asked him where he needed to be dropped off. He said he wanted to be dropped at the shelter, where he would be staying until he could get a job. I didn't think that dropping off a fellow (that had come to town to join our fellowship) at a shelter seemed very hospitable, so I invited him to stay with us. I cannot remember if I called Susan first, or if I just showed up with Perry, but he would be sleeping in our living room for the next several weeks. Perry was interested in prophecy and always had questions and theories about what they meant. We had good conversations and Perry had a wonderful big laugh whenever he thought something was funny. After a few weeks he was able to find a job and get a place of his own. After a few months however, a think he got home sick and headed back to Chicago. Perry would come back to Seattle about once a year (for a few months at a time), and would be back in our living room for some (or all) of his time in Seattle. I think he liked how independent he felt making the trip "out west" but also missed family (I think he had some nephews and nieces) when he was here. He was with us 3 or 4 times and we always enjoyed his stay.   Jeff and Amy Steven's Group The largest group of people in our living room was the Berkowitz group. Steven Berkowitz was a person that I had speak at Ocean Shores, beginning on the second or third year that we were in the Convention Center. Steven had sent out an e-mail, promoting himself as a public speaker for Sukkot, so I paid for transportation and lodging for him and his wife and small child to come out and speak. After speaking at the Feast, Steven decided to move to the Seattle area. He arrived in town with two vehicles along with his family, a man and his son, and another couple. I think it was about a month that we had seven house guests (although the man and his son slept out in their truck). Lee and Tonya For about a week of so, our son's friends needed a place to stay, so there they were, in the living room. through this time we also would occasionally find one of the kid's friends on the living room couch in the morning.   Haylee Heinzlmeir John Heinzlmeir (Haylee's father) was our daughter's boyfriend, and Haylee was with us for a few months also. I believe she was in kindergarten at the time, and John was having some housing problems. Haylee was a joy to have with us. "I Don't Know What to Do" One day when I was sitting in the office of our fellowship, a person showed up and told me, "I don't know what to do". He said that he had visited a few other churches, and they were unable to help him. So, I asked him what his situation was. He said that he had lost his job and he and his girlfriend were being evicted from their apartment. I think he needed a thousand dollars or so to be able to stay in his apartment. We were a small congregation and had no funds to dip into. As I began to explain our group's financial situation (I only had a couple hundred dollars), he began to cry. I said that I would not be able to keep them in their apartment, but we could get him through the emergency he was in. I could get them a storage unit and pay for the first month's rent.  I could help them move everything into the unit, and then they could stay with us (at our home) until he was able to get a job and move into a new place. So, that's what we did. He was able to get a job and move out within just a few weeks (much sooner than I had expected). He got a job at a natural food store that Susan would shop at. One day she asked how he and his girlfriend were doing. Apparently the relationship did not make it through the difficult time that they went through and they were no longer together. It was sad news, although he seemed to be doing much better at the time. Origins of Our Faith A new Public Access Cable TV station opened in Kent, which was much closer than the one that I was doing my show at in Seattle. In addition, they had much more up-to-date equipment, that made my "one man show" much easier to produce. I had changed the name of the program to "Origins of Our Faith" and began producing it in Kent (it was no longer a LIVE call-in program), and I would bring a video tape copy up to the Seattle station for them to run. No Oral Law I was not exposed to the concept of an "oral law" when I was young, so everything that we believed was based strictly by what we read in our English Bibles.  When we read about Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) we read about living in temporary dwellings.  In our modern understanding of this, we stayed in hotels for the week. After all, what is a temporary dwelling? I am not bothered by the fact that we didn't always totally understand everything that we read. I am always impressed by those who attempt to do what they believe is correct, to the best of their understanding. When I realized that when God says that we should go to where God "placed His name", He was specifically talking about Jerusalem, and we should attempt to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts (if possible).   So, after having a feast site at Ocean Shores for five years, we decided to go to Jerusalem for the feast. But before we could have a feast site in Jerusalem we would need to travel to Israel to set things up. Y2K           When 1999 came, there was a big concern that the computers would stop working when the calendar turned to 2000. No one really seemed to know if all the computers (world wide) would crash or if everything would continue as normal. As it turned out the worry, stress, and panic over a suspected flaw in the programming of computers was unwarranted. It is estimated that 64 billion dollars were spent in "preparation" for an imagined crisis. I remember the morning of Saturday, January 1, 2000 waking up in the morning and being thankful that the power-grid had not failed overnight, my phone was working, the traffic lights were working. I do not recall a single computer failing - not one. There was NOTHING affected by the date change. The following Monday I searched the news wire looking for something to report - ANYTHING. It was a slow news weekend. You would think that one computer, somewhere (that had not been "fixed") would have been affected. Nope. It was the biggest hype of my life. The interesting thing is there was no outrage over the apparent Y2K scam. We just moved on, not giving it another thought. The Last Feast at Ocean Shores The year 2000 would be the last year of the Feast of Tabernacles at Ocean Shores. I had four evening musical performances scheduled, an impressive list of speakers (including Rabbi Daniel Lapin) workshops, kids activities, lots of vendors, and over 250 people attending. I attempted to have someone "take over" the site, but no one seemed willing to take it on. At the end of the feast we said "Next Year in Jerusalem!" and meant it. Searching Susan and I were both working at KVI.  There were also a couple of Jewish people who worked for the station, who we would ask question about Judaism. Usually the answer was not too satisfying. So, since we were curious, we looked for other places to gain information. Shabbat Across America I think we attended the first year of Shabbat Across America. It was our first time meeting with a Jewish group for the Sabbath (Friday evening). It was at the Bellevue Torah Learning Center. It was a wonderful experience, and our hosts were very kind to us; a family that obviously was unfamiliar with many things in Judaism. KOL In the 60's KOL was one of Seattle's Top 40 Radio Stations. There was a period of time that KJR and KOL competed for the #1 position for listeners in Seattle radio. Since that time the station had switched call letters to KMPS and had been a country station. However when a FM KMPS started they sold off the AM station and tried to put the old call letters back on.  Apparently the FCC did not allow 3 letter call-letters any longer, and so the new call letters were KKOL. When Salem bought the station they did not get a tower and transmitter with the deal so the antenna was on an old ship that I believed was docked on Puget Sound. So our reach was not just effected by night and day patterns, but also by high and low tide; a unique situation. A Transmitter site was arrange for KOL (on the tide flats of the Port of Tacoma and they had been given permission by the FCC to increase their power from 5 thousand watts to 50 thousand watts, and they wanted to prepare by featuring a new local afternoon show. The format was conservative talk, and they had negotiated with Rabbi Lapin to do the show. I had run Rabbi Lapin's audio board and screening calls for the past four or five years and he had negotiated for me to come along with him. I believe that I met the folks at Salem Communications in December of 2000, and the "Rabbi Lapin Show" on KOL kicked off after the first of the year. David Klinghoffer was his producer. I was making plans for our "Sukkot in Jerusalem" so I had let them know that I would be taking about ten days coming up to visit Israel, to explore the possibilities of having our next year's feast there.   Our First Trip to Israel After having a feast site at Ocean Shores for five years, we decided to go to Jerusalem for the feast. So, in order to do such a thing Susan and I decided to travel to Israel.  Elgie Gibson had donated some money ($2000.00) to be used for this, but the Fellowship had some unexpected expenses, so the money that had been donated for the trip was gone, and we needed to find a more economical way to travel, if we wanted to get to Israel in time to plan for the upcoming year. One of the attendees of our fellowship (Salvador) was retired from the airlines (TWA). He told us that he was able to get tickets for half price. This was the break that we needed. We were able to get two stand-by round-trip tickets to Israel for $950.00. We had a short list of things that we wanted to accomplish, and people that we wanted to meet. The main objective was to find a place to meet and line up at least a couple of speakers. There was someone that visited our fellowship that had told us about "a building" that was owned by a lady that he knew. At one time it had been a church building but was not presently being used. Upon hearing about this building, I immediately felt like this was an important thing to find out about. For some reason we ended up getting the airline tickets within a window of time that was much sooner than we had thought it would be, and we were off to Israel without much preparation. Loretta Jacobs had given us the address of some messianic rabbi in Tel Aviv (odd, because we had no plans to be in Tel Aviv), and the phone number for Ron Cantrell with "Bridges for Peace". The only information about "the building" that we were told about was that it was on Zerubbabel Street, and to look for a "gate". I wanted to contact Yair Davidiy (who had written a book about the Lost Ten Tribes), and Ephraim Frank who I had heard being interviewed on a radio program. I had no idea about how I was going to contact either one, but figured that I could line up my speakers after I had returned (with a venue figured out). We flew out of Seattle on March 12, 2001. "I like your tzit tzits" We flew to JFK Airport in New York, to a connecting flight to Tel Aviv. While walking to our connecting flight, a person stopped made a comment about my tzit tziit. At first I wasn't sure what he was talking about or even if he was talking to me. For the past ten years I had been wearing a tallit-kakan as an outer garment, with tzit tzit (fringes or strings) hanging from each corner. Although I would notice people look at them, no one generally said anything about them.  We talked for a bit, and he asked me what I did for a living. I told him that I worked in radio in Seattle. He was familiar with Rabbi Lapin, with whom I worked as his producer.  He told me that he did a little radio also and he gave me his card, asking me to contact him when we got back. I put his card in my pocket and we were off on our separate ways. Airport Prayers When I got to our terminal there was a man trying to get enough people together for a minyam. I wasn't sure what that was at the time, but I said I would certainly help any way that I could, (I figured I would just watch what everyone else was doing). He looked relieved and gave me a kepa (scull cap) and a siddur (prayer book). The man announced to the small group of men that we could begin the prayers (I was the tenth man). I was not Jewish and was unaware I could ONLY be counted in the 10 if I WAS Jewish. However, before we began the prayers another four "Hassidic looking" Jewish men joined in. Still, I wasn't quite sure what was going on, and when everyone turned to the east to begin the prayers I realized that I was now in the front of everybody. So my plan to just watch and do what everyone else was doing wasn't working out so well. I noticed from the corner of my eye that some of the men were rocking back and forth as they prayed. I used the opportunity to (as I was rocking back and forth) to slowly walk backwards so that I was no longer in front of everyone else. The prayers and the siddur were in Hebrew, and I had no clue what was being said nor where we were in the prayers.  It seemed like a much longer period of time than the ten minutes or so that it took, and I was relieved when it was over and I could return the kepa and siddur. As we waited to board the plane I began telling Susan about the guy who commented about my tzit tzit and I pulled out his card and read it (I hadn't bothered to look at it when he had given it to me). The card said that he was president of the American News Network in Colorado. I thought to myself that I should give him a call after we returned home (after returning home from our trip I gave him a call and did a daily talk show on his network for a couple of years). While on the plane I began to talk to the lady next to me. She was Israeli and asked me if I was visiting someone. I told her that we didn't know anybody in Israel. She asked me where we would be staying. I said I wasn't sure; somewhere in Jerusalem (I figured that I would just check into a motel-6 or something). She was amazed at how totally unprepared we were to be traveling to a foreign country, and said if we needed any help, she could point us in the right direction. Landing in Israel When the plane touched down in Israel there was a spontaneous applause. Over the next several years it is something we came to expect (it happens every time). BUT this time (the first time) I didn't know people would applaud. I began clapping before I knew that everyone else was. I remembering feeling a little embarrassed (feeling that maybe I had started the applause). It was kind of an involuntary thing. I guess it is with most people. Like I say, it happens every time. The plane stopped and they wheeled the ramp up. We walked down the steps to the ground and felt the way you do when you are returning home after a long trip. It's that "familiar" feeling you get when arriving home. I wasn't expecting that. Getting Help After going into the terminal with the "Welcome to Israel" sign above you as you enter, we were stopped for questions. The security guy was not too happy with individuals that can not tell them where you will be staying and what you will be doing. When he asked us if we knew anybody in Israel, I was about to say no. Susan realizing that my answer would be insufficient, said "Ron Cantrell" (a name and number that Loretta Jacobs had given us). The security guy seemed to be O.K. with that answer, and he waved us through. After getting our luggage, I saw the lady that I sat next to on the plane and took her up on her offer to point us in the right direction.  After gathering our luggage, she took us to an information desk where someone could call a hotel and set up the arrangements.  The lady asked us where we were going. We had just planned on going to Jerusalem, but she suggested we start in Tel Aviv for a day or so, before heading to Jerusalem. "Why come all this way, and just see one place?" We said Okay and then she said something to the person at the "help desk" in Hebrew, and they began to do their calling. The person looked up, and gave us the information. I think it was about $100 a night. As I was agreeing, the lady that had brought us to the help desk said "Lo" (no) and grabbed the phone away from the person at the help desk and began talking to the person on the other end of the line. She then said "Ken" (yes) and started writing some information down. As we walked away from the help desk she explained that we had a hotel in Tel Aviv along the coast for $30 a night. As we walked to the exit doors with all of our luggage, she asked us if we had any sheckles. We said no, we just had dollars. As we got outside she ran to the front of a bus that just about ready to pull out, and she at him to wait. After saying a few things to the driver in Hebrew, she told us how much to pay for the bus with American dollars, and what street we would get off when we got into Tev Aviv. I believe that the driver got out so he could put our luggage in the compartments under the bus, and then we boarded. There were no seats together available on the bus, but about half way back there were a couple of isle seats empty that were right across from each other. We went back to those seats and sat down. I sat next to a nice girl that spoke a limited amount of English. In Tel Aviv It seems like the trip into Tel Aviv was about 20 minutes. After taking my seat, I was trying to understand exactly how it was that everything happened so quickly. Just a few minutes earlier we had been gathering our luggage with no idea of where we would be going. I was intently paying attention to the street signs, hoping that our street sign would be in both Hebrew AND English (which they seemed to be). When we reached our stop, we got off the bus, the driver got out our luggage, and we were standing there as the bus drove away, not knowing which direction to start walking in. I believe that Susan (who pays much more attention to things than I do) suggested that we walk north. The street that we were on, boarded the Mediterranean Sea. It was warm and there was a nice breeze. After walking a few blocks, sure enough, there was our hotel. It was right next to the Kazakhstan Embassy. we unpacked our things and realized that we hadn't eaten since the rather small meal on the airplane and we were hungry. We then realized that although we left on March the 12th (the day before Susan's birthday) it was now (because of crossing all of the time zones) near the END of the 13th. We had nearly missed Susan's birthday, so with just hours left to celebrated we went out for a birthday dinner. There was a larger hotel across the street from us that had a restaurant in it, so we walked over there to eat. I Can Eat Anything! As we entered the restaurant the man welcomed us and said that it was a kosher-dairy buffet. He took us to our seats before we headed over to the buffet. I had grown up always trying to pay attention to what I was eating. I would never eat anything unless I was sure what it was, so I wouldn't be eating anything "unclean" (pork, shellfish etc.). I was analyzing the various dishes of food in the buffet, wondering what I would be able to select, when it hit me ... the gentleman said it was "kosher-dairy". I could eat anything I wanted to, even if I had no idea of what it was. This was such a strange thing to be able to do. Hebrew and English Signs Most signs in Israel are both in Hebrew and English. However, the spelling of words may be a little off. The Hairdryer The next morning we got up and started to get ready to go out for the day. After dinner the night before, we found a little general store to purchase a little adaptor that Susan could put on the plug of her hairdryer so she could plug it into Israeli power outlets. About halfway through drying her hair, however, there was a popping sound and all the lights in the hotel went out. We quickly unplugged the hairdryer and waited. Sure enough after a few minutes the lights came back on. We put the hairdryer away and did not use it again. We Walked Right There We were off for the day. But where would we go? We didn't even have a map. So, we asked someone who spoke English, where we could buy a map. He said, just walk 20 minutes down this road and you will come to a shop that sells maps. We thanked him and then started walking. Twenty minutes? What strange directions. What if we walked faster, or what if we stopped along the way?  We continued to walk (well past the 20 minute point) and decided to stop for lunch. As we were eating lunch I noticed the cross street name that we had reached. I pulled out the piece of paper that Loretta Jacobs had given us. There were two pieces of information on it, Ron Cantrell's phone number, and the address of a messianic rabbi in Tel Aviv. The street that we were sitting at was the very street of the address. We finished eating and walked up the street (just a couple of stores). There it was. We had gone looking for a map only to land at exactly the spot that we had our only address of in Tel Aviv. We went into a messianic bookstore and introduced ourselves. The rabbi was gone for a few days and wouldn't be back till we had left Israel. So, we looked around the store for a while, then we were on our way again. This may seem strange to some, but we have always believed that God is involved in our lives. If something extraordinary happens to us; our natural conclusion is that God is directing us. The question was: Why would God direct us to a place, where the individual wasn't even there? Don't know. The Hawaiian Guest House We walked all around Tel Aviv that day and when we got back to the hotel, decided that it would be a good idea to figure out where we would be staying in Jerusalem. So the next morning Susan suggested that we call Ron Cantrell. I am generally not too eager to call up strangers, but it was the only phone number in Israel that we had. So although I wasn't too excited about calling, with Susan's insistence, I used the hotel room phone and called the number. It was an office number but he was in and I introduced myself and asked if he had any suggestions as to where we might find a place to stay in Jerusalem later that day. He suggested the "Alliance Guest House". He said that he didn't have the number, but I could just get it by calling information. I thanked him for his help and called information. It had not occurred to me until this point, that English would not be the main language used by the operator. "Could I have the number for the Alliance Guest House?" ... "The Hawaiian Guest House?" ... No No, the ALLIANCE Guest House!" ...  "The Hawaiian Guest House?"  ... No, Alliance A-L-L  ... I began to spell out "alliance" but realized that I could only give the English spelling. After a couple more attempts I thanked the operator and Susan said that I should call back Ron Cantrell. After explaining the situation, he said "Oh .. it's the "Christian Alliance Guest House" He then gave me the name of some other places to call. After giving me about 4 places to call someone in the background said "What about Nahama?"  "Oh Yeah, here is the number of a lady that rents out a room". Our Jerusalem Apartment I proceeded to go down the list of numbers. No Answer. Busy. No Answer. I had gone through all the numbers except one with no success. I was not looking forward to trying to communicate with on old Israeli lady (that probably wouldn't understand me) to inquire about some tiny room she rented out. BUT it was the only number left to call. So I called. To my surprise a young sounding English speaking lady answered the phone. She said, yes .. she rented out rooms in an apartment.  Currently the master bedroom was rented out but the rest of the apartment was vacant. The price was $18.00 per person.  "I'll take it". After we were packed I called a taxi. They said that it would be 25 sheckels to take us to the bus station. After getting to the bus station, however, the driver said "50 sheckels" I said "I was told 25 sheckels." The driver gave some explanation as to why it should be 50, so I pulled out some sheckels and paid him (I had gotten some of our money exchanged the day before, while we were out). We bought our tickets to go to Jerusalem; 17 sheckels each. The bus was only about 1/4 full  with several soldiers carrying duffel bags and rifles. When we got off the bus I waved down a taxi and asked him how much it would be to get us to the address that I gave him.  "25 sheckels", he said.  I said "great". and we were off. We got to the address and he said "50 Sheckels".  I must not understand how taxis work. There must be an extra taxi sir-charge or something, I thought. We were actually dropped off a few blocks down the road from where we should have been. The apartment was great. It had a nice sized living room a small dinning room, and a large kitchen. the main restroom had a washer and dryer and there were three bedrooms. The master bedroom was rented out to a girl that was seldom there. So, we had a nice big apartment mostly to ourselves. How unbelievable! The apartment owners (Gary and Nahama Teasedale) lived in the same building and invited us over for dinner. We explained what we were doing in Israel and what our plan was. To have a "Feast of Tabernacles" in Jerusalem for non-Jews. "But the Christian Embassy already does that". they said. "No, I don't want to have a "Christian" feast  ... I want a Jewish feast with rabbis and Jews speaking to non-Jews". They were intrigued.  The Mall After settling in we asked where Susan might be able to buy an Israeli Hair Dryer. They said "Sure" just go to the mall a few blocks up the road. So we headed to the main street and started walking to "the mall" we walked quite a distance until the shops became less frequent. When I think of a "mall" I think of a great big structure with lots of stores inside. Apparently the mall that they were talking about was a little strip mall with just a couple of stores. When we got back to the apartment and explained where we had walked to, they said, "You walked half the way to Bethlehem!" Moshe The next day they took us to the old city to meet Moshe. Moshe and his brother Dov owned a gift shop in the old city, and it was a place that encouraged conversation and dialogue. We spent a couple of hours just talking and explaining what we were wanting to do. Moshe was very helpful and encouraging. That night we reviewed our plans and what we had on our list to accomplish. Two items (visiting the messianic rabbis place in Tel Aviv and contacting Ron Cantrell) were already done.  I was drawn to the idea about a "building" we may be able to use somewhere on Zerubabel Street (wherever that was). We had no idea of how to get a hold of Yair Davidiy (who had written a book about the Lost Ten Tribes) or Ephraim Frank (whom I had heard being interviewed on a radio program). But we definitely felt that God was with us, leading us to places we could have never found on our own. We talked with Nahama because I could not find Zerubable Street on the map that I had purchased. She said, "Oh, that's just a little street a couple of blocks from here." She pointed it out, and yes it was literally just a couple of blocks away. She also invited us over again in a couple of days because they had arranged someone to come over that had some "similar views" to mine. We said "we would love to". The Building The next morning we headed out to the old city, but before going there we wanted to find this building on Zerubbabel Street. we walked down to the street. It was more like a small alley. The only instruction that the person who had visited our fellowship had told us was to "look for a gate". There were a couple of places that looked like it might be the "gate" that we were looking for, no one seemed to be home. There wasn't much left on the street and I was feeling we may not find the "building", when Susan said, "Wait!" We had come to a sort of wall with a door in it. On the door was a old sign that said "Zion Press". "This is it", she said. Susan remembered the person saying something about "Zion Press". So we knocked on the door. A small older lady (Naomi) came to the door. There was a square window with cross bars on the door, so we could see into it. We talked through the door for a few minutes then she opened the door and had us come in. Upon going through the entry area we came into a courtyard area  in front of a two story stone building. There was old garden equipment and and array of nick-nacky type things laying around. There was a younger husky man who seemed to be occupied with something close enough to listen into our conversation. We decided that we would get together again and Naomi invited us over for lunch in a couple of days. "Wow" we said to each other, not believing that we had come across the "building" with the description that we had been given. We were going back for lunch in a couple of days and that item on our list could be checked off. As we walked toward the Old City I said that "we still need to find Yair Davidi". I wasn't sure if the people that we wanted to meet even lived in Jerusalem. I think we decided to take the bus to the old city so we hopped on the number that Gary and Nahama had told us. I gave the bus driver what I thought was the proper coinage. The driver looked in his hand at what I had given him and then back up at me. Something was wrong. I held out my hand with some various coins in it and he picked out the appropriate fare. Yair Davidi As we entered Moshe's shop, he was saying to his brother Dov, "What about this book from Yair Davidi?"  "Yair Davidi?" I asked, "He's one of the people that I want to contact".  "Well, his phone number is here in the front of the book".   Yair had dropped off the book just a little earlier, wanting to see if Moshe would carry the book in his shop. Moshe gave me the number and I gave Yair a call, and we arranged to meet the next day in the courtyard in front of Moshe's shop. Susan and I are in Mose's shop with Yair Davidy standing in the back When we got back to the apartment I said to the Teasedales, "You need to tell me how the money works here". as I told them about my incident with the bus driver. They showed me what I had misunderstood so I could give the proper change next time. Gary had also brought his car home. It had been stored at some other location. Now, with their car, Gary and Nahama became our personal tour guides, taking us to all the important places to see, including a couple locations for a possible venue. As we were walking down from the Mount of Olives, a man on the side of the road waved Susan and I over to him. He the motioned to me (seeing that I had a camera around my neck) to take a picture of Susan standing bin front of him and his donkey. I am so dense. I did not realize why he wanted me to take the picture, until he held out his hand for money. I gladly paid him for the picture thinking "What a good idea". Abu Gosh One of the places they took us was to Abu Gosh. Besides having an "Elvis museum" it was also where a Catholic Monastery was located. Tradition says that this is where the ark of the covenant rested for a number of years. When I began explaining  to Sister Katherine what I was planning I said that there were a number of people within Christianity who were discovering their Jewish roots. She responded by saying, "Oh yes, I attend a messianic congregation every Shabbat". She said that she felt the work that I was doing was important. Ben Yahuda Street The person staying in the master bedroom of the apartment was at home and we had a chance to meet her. She seemed very nice and told us we "HAD" to go to Ben Yahuda Street at night. The street was blocked off to traffic and had a walking market feel (much like Pike Place Market in Seattle) there were street musicians and staged performances, artists and food venders it was a great thing to experience. Back to the Building We arrived at Naomi's for lunch, her husband (who had difficulty getting around) was there along with a couple of other interesting characters that also seemed to live on the premises. They both had accents indicating that they were from England and maybe Ireland. It was a fascinating somewhat intellectual conversation. Apparently "the building" was at another location about a mile away, and it was much smaller than I had thought it would be. During our conversation they talked about the person (Jonathan Medved) who owned the home next to theirs. In fact the two houses shared a wall. The west wall for one house was the east wall for the other. They felt they were being pressured to sell. This was interesting, since I worked with Michael Medved in Seattle (at KVI) and I was sure that Michael had a brother named Jonathan that lived in Jerusalem. I enquired more about "the building" and went to look it over in the next day or two. I got their phone number and said I would call them back in the next couple of days. When we left we felt that it had been a very nice friendly meeting and we very much enjoyed our visit. We were looking forward to seeing them again. However, when we called or dropped by there was no answer. We made several attempts to contact them without success. This was strange. Everything seemed to lead us to this place, and I had felt such an "inner" pull about it, and yet we hit a wall now. I gave them a call after getting home to Seattle and left a message. In a few days I received a call from her daughter saying to please not call anymore, as they were not interested in anyone doing anything with the building.  I said I was so sorry, the building was actually not suitable for what I was planning, however it seemed like there was still a reason that I was "led" to them. I did not call them again. Ten years later, when I was in Jerusalem again, laying in bed thinking about the incident. I thought ... Maybe it wasn't them that I was suppose to meet with, maybe it was Jonathan Medved. We had heard that Michael's brother had actually built a new home in Jerusalem. Maybe this was in fact, Michael Medved's brother, and the new home that we had heard about was on the place that we had visited 10 years earlier. I had this thought in my head about going to the place and seeing the name "Medved" on the building. It was Sabbath morning and so that afternoon we walked back to Zerubbabel Street. Everything looked different. There was a code pad to get in to where the door was and we were about to leave when Susan noticed the word "Medved" written in Hebrew letters. Just then someone came up to the touch pad, and we asked if this is where Jonathan Medved lived, he said yes, and we asked if he could let Jonathan know that there were a couple of people out front that know his brother Michael. When Jonathan came out he seemed bothered by our presence but agreed to meet with us the next day (I believe) at a location in the Old City. When we met I told him the story and that I didn't know if we were "meant" to meet or not.  I asked if he had any interest in radio, noachidism or the lost tribes. He said no. I did not contact him again. The whole inner pull that I seem to feel about "the building" is still a mystery. Ephraim Frank Gary and Nahama became great friends. We have visited them at their home when they moved back to Portland Oregon, and have been in loose contact over the years. They continued to show us around Jerusalem for the rest of our trip and when we went over to there apartment to meet the people they had invited over (because they had similar views) it was in fact, Ephraim Frank, the last thing on my list. I had not told Nahama that he was on my list because I did not think there was a way to locate him. I guess he lived outside of Jerusalem and made the "trip in" for our meeting. He was not a well know person; just someone that I had heard on a radio show. I could not even remember what show it was. I am not sure how Gary and Nahama were even associated with him. I do not know if I even mentioned my "list" to Ephraim. On the one hand this was an unbelievable thing, and on the other hand, at this point I was almost expecting something miraculous. As it turned out Ephraim would not be available for the fall feast, but was acquainted with a woman named Jenny that arranged speaking engagements for an Israeli "think tank" of sorts, that worked out perfectly for speaking to our group (along with many Orthodox rabbis that I would contact) for the next few years. As we headed to the airport after our first trip to Israel Susan said the she felt that we were in the "palm of God's hand" the whole time. At the Airport We stood in a long line. We were headed back to America just before Passover, and there were a lot of other people headed there too. A rather large Hasidic man with a very big cart filled with luggage rammed his cart right into me as he hurried past without saying a word. At the time I was thinking "How could he have not noticed running right into me?" "Surely it was not intentional". Now, years later, thinking back I have concluded that yes, it was intentional. I was a guy that did not wear a kepa, and yet wore tzit tzit (a sure sign of a "messianic missionary" - which of course I was not). I am sure the individual felt a certain moral justification, and maybe obligation, to do what he did. But I was just a guy like him, trying the best that I knew to follow where God was leading us. There was only one TWA flight leaving Israel every day, and it was at 1:00 in the morning (and we were on stand-by). The plane was full and we would have to come back the next day. So we headed back to Tel Aviv. We went to the same hotel we stayed at on our first night. The next day there was not much to do but wait till the late evening when we would try the airport again. It was a very nice day and we walked along the Mediterranean Sea from Tel Aviv to Joppa and back.  When we got to the airport it was as crowded as the night before. however the ticket person said he could take one of us. So Susan left with all the luggage. and I stayed at the airport for the day. This was before 9-11, so airport security back home was still pretty lax. I was  surprised at how many times someone would come up to me and ask me a series of questions.  Why were you hanging around the airport? Where is your luggage? I guess I looked pretty suspicious. One time when I was looking down watching the crowd from an upper level, I heard someone say something and the crowd immediately dispersed in every direction, leaving a single cart with a bag on it in the center of the room. In a few minutes a couple of uniformed people carefully approached the cart to inspect it's contents. Soon it appeared that they were satisfied that it was a harmless baby bag, just as the embarrassed owners of the bag came back to retrieve their forgotten cart.  When evening came it was not looking good. It was just as crowded as it had been. It was about 1:00 and I was wondering if I would spend another night at the airport, when the ticket agent ran up to me and said "Let's go". They had promised Susan that I would be on the next day's flight so they were determined to fit me in.  it seemed like I had barely run down the ramp and boarded the plane when it began to taxi down the runway. I had a couple of connecting flights from New York to Seattle, and had to hurry to make them. I was thankful I had no luggage. We have been back to Israel 11 more times and every time is magic.     Rabbi Lapin's Show is Canceled I had come to KOL with Rabbi Lapin, as he began his new show about the first of the year in 2001. After doing the show for 3 months I visited Israel for the first time. The day that I returned they told me that they were packing everything up because the show was canceled and we were all let go. I asked if today was our last day, and I was told "No, yesterday was".  So I was no longer working for Salem Communications (owner of KOL); but only for about a week. They called me up in just a few days, asking me to produce their afternoon talk show, The Dick Stabb Show. After the Trip After getting back from our trip I had a number of things to follow up on. I had gotten the name of the manager for the Arial Hotel from Moshe, on one of our visits to his shop. So I arranged to have our group stay there and have access to their conference room throughout the feast (they would provide a sound system) and Jenny (the contact that I got from Ephraim Frank) was providing us with a number of speakers. I would pay them each a speakers fee of $100.00. We had someone talk about radical Islam, someone else on Hydropolitics (the politics of water) and a couple other speakers. I put the information up on our website, and had our itinerary starting to shape up. The American News Network I also contacted the fellow that commented on my tzit tzits in the New York airport. He was owner of the American News Network (a network of just three or so stations in Colorado) and began doing a weekly show called "Origins of Our Faith".  Here are some radio shows from back then         Rabbi Pinchas Winston   KGNW About a week after being let go from the Rabbi Lapin Show on KOL, Salem asked me to come back to board-op the Dick Staub Show on KGNW. I worked for several years as KGNW switched hosts; from Dick Staub, then to Mark Groat, then to Thor Tolo, during Thor's period as host, I asked to be moved to evenings. So at that time, I was working from 4pm to midnight at KGNW (M-TH) and then would rush down the street a couple of blocks to work at KVI from midnight till 6am (M-F). Four days a week I was working a 14 hour day. Arranging Our First Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) in Jerusalem I arranged transportation for Susan and I through a travel agent that was on Main Street of Auburn (the town where I lived), I can't remember if I did so for most of our attendees, but I believe I did. The Gibsons, however, found a travel agent in Seattle they thought was very helpful, and the following few years I would have her make our flight arrangements for the entire group. I was feeling pretty confident that everything would work out fine. However, it was exactly three weeks before the feast would begin (about two weeks before Susan and I would be taking off), and the world was about to change, putting the prospects of even traveling to Israel into question.. The Voice That Woke Me Up Have you ever heard voices?  Up until 2001 I had not.  We took our first trip to Israel in March of 2001.  Not too long after arriving home, I was awakened one night.  I thought that Susan had called my name.  I turned to her and said "what?" She asked "What do you mean?" "Didn't you call my name?" I asked.  "No, go back to sleep". This was strange.  I thought it must have somehow been part of a dream, and I went back to sleep.   A few weeks later it happened again.  I was awakened by Susan's voice saying "Rick".  This time I checked, and Susan was asleep. I got up and checked to see if there was anything plugged in, or in anyway could catch on fire.  I thought I was being woken up for something, but didn't know what.   I told Susan about this in the morning and we wondered what was going on.  Not too many nights had past and I heard the voice again.  This time I got up and went into the living room to have a talk with God.  What was this all about?  Was I suppose to notice something? What was I missing?  I looked up the passage in the Bible where God called Samuel's name.   I quietly asked the question that Eli told Samuel to ask.   ... nothing.   After the next time it happened I told people at the fellowship and asked them what they thought it meant.  Someone suggested saying "Here I am Lord".  I said I tried that and it didn't work.   I didn't get an answer that seemed suitable to me.  I kept getting woken up in the night.  It was becoming a nuisance.  I remember saying "If you're trying to tell me something, you're not doing a very good job, because I am just not getting it".  I continued to be woken up and the voice got louder and more intense.  One morning I was woken up with a very intense "Rick" inside my head.  I could tell that I was not hearing the voice with my ears, instead the voice was coming from inside.  I never heard the voice when I was awake, only when being woken up.  It was loud this time and I was startled awake.  I went out to the living room where my desk was and I began to look up a couple of things that I was studying.  Susan had gotten up and was fixing breakfast when Mary Ellen Stevens called us on the phone.   "Turn your T.V. on" she said.  "What channel?" we asked.  She said, "It doesn't matter."   It was September 11, 2001.    The voice stopped waking me up after that morning.   It all seemed very strange to me.  If there was a purpose to waking me up, I didn't understand what it was.  If this WAS about 9-11, what could I have done, and what difference did it make? I remember talking to God, and saying what an inefficient way He had at communicating, because I simply didn't understand the point of calling my name and not giving me anything else. We were going to fly to Israel in just TWO weeks, and all of the airlines shut down. There was no air travel ANYWHERE. We realized that our first Jerusalem Sukkot may not be able to happen. Several people called to tell me that they were now not planning to attend (even if transportation did become available again). After the terrorist attack they were just too uncomfortable about flying. We had a total of 17 people attend our first Sukkot. Half of the group was from our local fellowship and most of the others that came had seen our website. One fellow  from Sweden attended, but every one else was from the US. Eleven I was still trying to figure out what "the voice" was all about. Maybe there was some lesson to learn or another reason for the voice that woke me up. I was focused on just one thing, the return of the Lost Tribes. Maybe the voice had more to do with THAT, and less to do with preventing a terrorist attack. I read a couple of letters on line from people that talked about how the number "11" kept coming up (leading up to 9-11). I thought, what if the number eleven was tied in with the return of the Ten Tribes? I am not sure why, but I began to look up scriptures with the number 11. I thought I should look up the eleventh verse of the eleventh chapter, of the eleventh book. In the Christian Bible that would be 1 Kings 11:11, which reads, "Wherefore the LORD said to Solomon, Forasmuch as you have done this, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely rend the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant." I could not believe my eyes. This was the very verse that the Ten Tribes will be separated! What if I count to the eleventh book of the Jewish Bible? (Even though the Old Testament and the Tanach are the same thing, the arrangement of the books is different. In the Jewish Bible the eleventh verse of the eleventh chapter of the eleventh book is Jeremiah 11:11. To give context I will start one verse earlier, 10, "They reverted to the sins of their forefathers, the earlier ones, who refused to listen to my words, and the followed the gods of others to worship them; the House of Israel and the House of Judah have abrogated My covenant that I commanded them to fulfill. but they did not fulfill."  11. Therefore, thus says HASHEM: Behold, I bring against them an evil from which they will not be able to escape; and they will cry out to Me, but I will not listen to them." What an amazing coincidence! BOTH ways of counting brought me to verses that talked about the Ten Tribes being exiled. I then decided to see what was in the eleventh chapter of the Bible and it brought me to the story of the Tower of Babel, and how the people had been dispersed. The next Sunday evening I asked Rabbi Lapin (as I produced his radio program) if the number 11 was in any way associated with the Ten Tribes. I also told him about my discoveries. He responded by saying, "You wouldn't count to the eleventh chapter, you would count to the eleventh parsha". I asked, "What's the eleventh pasha?" I believe he just told me the name of the parsha without elaborating about it's contents. When I got home, I looked up the eleventh parsha. This is the one where Joseph reveals himself to his brothers. The Eleventh Haftorah I had been doing my daily radio program now for about a year. Once a week I had Eddie Chumney on as a guest, and I was eager to tell him about my discoveries. When I told him about the eleventh parsha, he said, "That's nothing compared to the Haftorah". I asked What's in the eleventh Haftorah. It was Ezekiel 37, the prophecy about the two sticks, where the Ten Tribes are reunited with Judah! I had asked Eddie if he would like to be a co-host for the next Sukkot. We agreed that neither one of us would be speaking, rather we would provide a forum for the Jewish community to teach the non-Jewish people who would attend. I was not aware of anyone putting together such a gathering. Most of the "Feast of Tabernacles" activities were organized by Christians for Christians (like the Christian Embassy). To have a totally non-Jewish group of people to come to Jerusalem to be taught by a list of completely Jewish speakers was something new. We had no "Christian" agenda; we were simply coming to learn. It was really the only way to pull it off. Many of the Jewish rabbis that I had approached were not interested in speaking at a "Christian" event. So, it was important for the list of speakers to be exclusively Jewish. I was invited to come and speak in Colorado for a Shavuot event sponsored by the radio network that I had my daily program on. The network asked Eddie to speak as well. It was an outdoor event ant we were on the outdoor stage in a large park.  This worked out well, as Eddie and I were both traveling to Israel directly from Colorado to prepare for the coming feast (Sukkot). Susan and I had driven to Colorado (with our daughter Jessica), going through Yellowstone park along the way. We stayed at the network owners place while we were in Colorado. I think Eddie may have told someone that he had not been feeling well, because somebody came up with the idea of giving Eddie a "cleansing tea" the day that we left. This was not a good idea. It gave Eddie tremendous stomach cramps and diarrhea. He was moaning (very loud) and I had to push him through the airport in a wheel chair, when he wasn't running to the bathroom. By the time we reached Israel the effects of the tea had worn off. One of the first stops was a visit the the Jerusalem city hall.  I had a picture taken on our last trip, of me and Edhud Olmert (at that time he was the mayor of Jerusalem) and I wanted to include a welcome message from him to our group that was coming in the fall. When talking to the receptionist, Eddie began a discussion that did not seem it would be helpful at getting our objective (a welcome message). I decided that it may not be a good idea for Eddie to come with me to some of the other meetings that I had arranged, because of the somewhat delicate nature of what we were doing. Asking orthodox rabbis to speak to a non-Jewish group during Sukkot, would be met with a high amount of suspicion of being a missionary. This was the beginning of building a relationship with the Jewish community in Jerusalem, and I would need to be cautious with how I would proceed. One of the prominent rabbis, upon seeing that Eddie Chumney was co-hosting had told me that I would not speak at an event that Eddie was speaking at, so assured him that neither one of us (who were hosting) would be speaking. He agreed to this arrangement and I added him to the list. After my meetings I emphasized to Eddie once again how I was presenting our up-coming event. Neither one of us would be speaking (nor were any Christian presenters going to be involved). This would be a strictly Jewish group of teachers and rabbis, speaking to a non-Jewish group. The trip was extremely productive, and we were set. We flew back to Colorado, to pick up our truck for the trip home. On the way home, we stopped at four or five congregations to give a speech about my discoveries about the number 11 and it's connection to the Lost Tribes. Mary Stone (Crystal's sister) had made the arrangements. Everything worked out well. Within a few months we were back in Jerusalem with our second group for Sukkot. We had about 100 people come to Jerusalem with us that year. I inquired (with a show of hands) How people had decided to come. There seemed to have been a pretty even 4-way split of reasons given. About a quarter of the people were there because they were familiar with our previous feast site in Ocean Shores, Washington, a quarter of the people heard about the trip from my radio program, a quarter of the people were there because they heard Eddie was going (possibly also from my show), and the last quarter found out from our website. The Sukkot was over all a successful event, and I don't know how many people were aware of some of the difficulties that were happening behind the scenes. Eddie was having difficulty in sticking to the plan to not speak in a formal way at the event saying, "The people want me to speak". He did not seem to realize how delicate we needed to be. A few people who had attended were not able to pay fully for the trip, and so there was a certain amount of extra unplanned expense. In addition the Hotel had made a mistake on our bill, charging us an extra $5,000.00. It took me a while to figure out where the mistake had been made. When I arrived back from Israel, I was surprised to learn that my daily radio program had been canceled. There was concern over my questioning the doctrine of the Trinity. I continued doing my TV show, however, and published my first book. Origins of Our Faith     "Fascinating and Important!"...  "You may not agree with all of Richardson's arguments and observations, but they merit serious consideration."  Michael Medved, Nationally Syndicated Talk Show Host ... "Insightful and Helpful"... I must say that I really have found much of what you are saying to be quite on target. Some material you have clarified has even been helpful to me in my correspondence with several Christians who have demonstrated animosity towards Judaism...I have used some of your insights to give them perspective. Rabbi Chaim Richman, The Temple Institute and The Sanhedrin ... Jerusalem, Israel ... "Beautiful Concise Writing" ... "Rick Richardson expresses well thought out convictions. He proves that to grasp the dynamics of the present we need to reexamine the past. At Sinai and in the desert, Moses was the agent to build a people into a holy nation... Now enters Rick Richardson to bring sanity to confused doctrines" Rabbi Avraham Feld, Director of the Maccabee Institute Jerusalem, Israel ... "Wonderful Discovery"...  "Origins of Our Faith is a beautifully researched and articulately delivered work."  Eric Slocum, KOMO TV/Radio Seattle ... "Compelling"...  "Origins of Our Faith is a book that I consider one of the most helpful out there for those being drawn toward the Ancient Paths." Dr. James Tabor, Chair of Religious Studies University of North Carolina Origins of Our Faith The Hebrew Roots of Christianity     Click Here to read this book       I was running the board for KOMO Morning News when my first book was published. Eric Slocum was the News Anchor (along with Manda Factor). Eric was interested in my book so I gave him a copy. To my surprise, after about a week he wanted to get together to talk about the book. He asked if he could take Susan and I out to lunch (Susan was also working at KOMO as an evening News Anchor). When we got to the restaurant Eric pulled out his book. it was full of "post-it" notes where he had questions that he wanted to ask. We spent about a half an hour talking about various parts of the book. He was in particularly interested in my chapter on "What is Law"  Then he said, "I'm Gay, That's who I am. How am I able to adhere to the law?" I paused for just a moment (I had not known that he was gay). I said "The law is not ambiguous on the subject". "However, There is a story of someone that was stoned for not keeping Shabbat. Certainly we are not going to stone people today for breaking the Sabbath. And just because we have difficulty with one part of the law, it does not mean we shouldn't keep the other laws." Being kind and generous to others is something that we can all do." He thanked us for coming to lunch and thanked me for my book and the answers that I had given him. It seems like within weeks of that meeting Eric discovered that he was Jewish. He had grown up being a Methodist. His relatives had hidden the fact when they immigrated to America after WW2, having faced the anti-Semitism of Europe. It wasn't long before he was attending a Chabad House Synagogue in West Seattle. One week he invited Susan and I to attend with him. It was a nice little group. However, the rabbi pulled me aside (by ourselves) and said, "You are welcome to be here today, but don't make it a habit".  So it would be some time before we went back there. In the mean time Eric was moved to the afternoon news and Bill Yend (a news anchor legend) joined the morning news. We would occasionally see Eric and have nice little chats, but for the most part we were working at different times. After some time had past I heard some very sad news. Eric had killed himself. I did not find out any details. There are certain things that I choose not to know. I will always think in very positive terms about Eric, as a dear friend. My weekly Cable TV Show KOMO NEWS ANCHOR (I hope no one is listening) Other than my first day in radio back in college, there was one other day, that I ended the shift saying "I hope no one was listening". I was the overnight news-anchor for KOMO radio.  On the overnight shift, there is no one around other than the news editor sitting just outside of the studio.  The KOMO news studio was a big glass box, where up to six people would be stationed doing there various jobs on the newscast.  BUT on the overnight shift the anchor is all alone. My news editor had just left for either a lunch or bathroom break.  I hadn't realized that, until my main computer went down, and I was looking out with desperation to an empty desk.  There were two computers that I used. One had the news stories that I would pull up and read (along with any audio they may have), and the other had all the automation elements (music beds and sounders, promos and SPOTS (commercials). It was THAT computer that froze up as I was coming out of a commercial break.  There was an abrupt end to the audio, and I had to go into the newscast dry, without a music transition. This is when I began waving my arms and looked out to the empty desk. The only thing that I had available was the news computer, so I would need to read stories until I could get my system back up. I kept thinking the editor would return, but he didn't. The monitors where right in front of me but the computers were out of reach. I looked for a news stories that had a long "play-time" listed. That usually meant that there was at least one good piece of audio. I could then get under the council and reach the computer to re-boot.  However when I pulled up the story there was no audio; just a really long (and very poorly written) news story. So, I began reading this long news story, trying to reach the computer at the same time. I believe that the editor was in the process of writing the story when he left his station, because when he finally got back and the incident was all over he told me that "that story wasn't ready".  It was REALLY bad with incomplete sentences, and phrases that didn't seem to make sense.  This of course was my fault, because I took the story from a different spot, because I was just looking for something long. As I was reading the story, I was aware of the fact that I had no idea about what I was saying! The computer finally re-booted and I went on with the show, thankful for the fact that it was about 2:30 to 3:00AM and there were not too many listeners.  No one said anything about it and I didn't get any phone calls.  After a day or two, I breathed a big sigh of relief. I could put that nightmare behind me. One year later I was producing a show downstairs at KVI in the afternoon. It was a few minutes before the Top of the Hour Newscast.  One of the news-people from KOMO would do our news.  I put my news pot in "cue" so I could listen, and see if she was ready to do the news.  To my horror instead of hearing the newsperson I was hearing ME.  As I listened, I couldn't make any sense of what I was saying, and I realized it was a recording of that newscast I had done when my computers had crashed a year earlier.  When the newsperson came on, I asked her where she got that audio from, and she said it was on the desktop, titled as "air-check".  I talked to the Program Director of KOMO after my shift and asked if he could delete the file from the desktop.  He said that he would and apologized, "That should have never happened".  I am not sure if the file was ever deleted, and expect to hear it again sometime.  It really sounded funny in a horrible way.  A news guy who made absolutely no sense at all.  In a way I would like to hear it again sometime just to laugh about something that at the time was SOOO embarrassing. The Decision to Convert Originally, we had not planned to convert to Judaism. We believed that as a member of the Lost Tribes, we should remain as such. All we needed (at that point) was to simply be recognized as a member of the northern kingdom, and then let God do whatever he would do at that point.  However, we soon realized that there was just as much resistance (maybe more) on the Jewish side as on the Christian side to the idea of an emerging northern kingdom of Israel. In a discussion with Rabbi Lapin one evening (sometime in 2005), he said it is a concept that is not well received in many segments of Judaism, so many rabbis are not willing to risk their reputations to promote the idea. He then said (perhaps somewhat in jest) You should convert, get your semikhah (become a rabbi), and be the one to do it. At that point, we considered more seriously about converting.  If we were going to have any impact on the return of the Lost Tribes, we would have to understand and work from both sides. In addition, we really wanted to learn.  So, we put aside any pre-conceived ideas, stopped promoting my book, and focused on becoming Jewish. Because we had been studying for quite some time, we were not starting from "scratch", and many of the customs were things already familiar, as I had doing them my whole life. There were still, however, many customs that needed to be relearned with the additional knowledge that we were receiving. KOL I became program Director for KOL about this time. Salem Media Group was finally going to increase their power to 50,000 watts. The tower was located on the Port of Tacoma tide flats. They wanted to hire a Program Director so I applied. I came to the interview (with corporate executives) well prepared with a "Comprehensive Strategy Plan" out-lining exactly what I would do, and why I would do it. I guess I impressed them, because I got the job. They were paying me a nice salary, however, I had to agree to ONLY work for Salem. This seemed very strange, because I had worked at least two jobs at a time through most of my career.  It felt like I had a lot of spare time because I was only working 50 hours a week! When I became PD, I began systematically implementing my plan.  Within just a couple of months, the station was sounding more like it should.  I was running a "listen at work" campaign and cross promoting shows.  Our weekend programming began to be sold for more money (two to three times more), And we were gearing up for our big promotion "The KOL Class Reunion".  Up until the mid seventies, KOL had been one of the top stations in Seattle. At one point in the 60's it was #1 in the Seattle market, so it had a rich history of TOP-40 Radio in Seattle. I had contacted most of the Disc Jockeys from that time and told them about our up-coming event. Nearly all of these radio legends were planning to attend. A long time "fan" of the station was putting together a slide show, and we had contacted a couple of the Rock and Roll bands to perform. KOL would be 85 years old, and we would be celebrating it's past, and (with the up-coming power increase) promoting the new talk format. I secured a place in the the Seattle Center as the venue and everything was coming together perfectly. The Noahide Oath On the Monday evening after Sukkot in 2006 Susan and I took an oath (in Jerusalem) to observe the Seven Laws of Noah. A number of Rabbis from the newly formed Sanhedrin participated as part of the beit den (Jewish court) that officiated the ceremony.   The process that led us to this point had started years before, but everything moved into place just one day earlier. It was Sunday, October 15th, 2006. We were visiting the offices of my good friend Rabbi Chaim Richman in Jerusalem, Israel. We were preparing to leave Israel in a day or two, after being there for the fall festival of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). Rabbi Richman had spoken to groups that we had brought to Jerusalem for Sukkot each year. In the past we had up to one hundred people with us. This year, however, was the first year that we had simply rented a small apartment, and had no tour group with us. As we began to talk we related to the rabbi our decision to convert to Judaism. Back in Seattle (before leaving for Israel) my friend and mentor, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, had given me a (somewhat cryptic) question to ask Rabbi Richman about our decision to convert. Although I can't remember now what the exact wording was, at that time I was careful to use the exact words that Rabbi Lapin had said. It was about Maimonides and his views. I had decided that I would go forward in any direction that resulted. It had been our practice for Susan and I to do what we felt we were being “led” to do. Although it's certainly not a very scientific approach, we have always tried to pray to God, asking for direction, and then trust that somehow things would work out the way that they were “meant to be”. Sometimes we are not sure exactly why certain doors or paths appear, but that is what makes the journey an interesting one. Rabbi Richman paused and then told us that there was a ceremony happening the following day, with people (non-Jews like Susan and me) who were going to take a Noahide Oath before a beit den of the newly formed Sanhedrin. A number of thoughts came into my mind. Why is he telling me about this? This is an oath to be a Gentile, isn't it? Rabbi Richman and I had been talking for over four years. We discussed the return and redemption of the northern kingdom of Israel (the Lost Ten Tribes). He was well aware of my thesis and he had read my book. If the northern kingdom was to return from exile, they would need to be united with Judah … and not become Gentiles, wouldn't they? This seemed like a step backward. I paused and then simply asked “Aren't Noahides Gentiles?” Rabbi Richman responded by saying, “Even Jews are Noahides”. I then asked, “Can anyone take the oath?” The rabbi said that anyone who is agreeing to live their life according to the seven Noahide laws could take the oath. “Could we take the oath?”, I asked. He said that he felt that he could arrange it. I believe that we were contacted the next day with the specific address of the small synagogue where the ceremony would be held. The next day at the ceremony, Susan and I (along with three other people from the states) were each asked to tell a little bit about what brought us to this point in our lives. I can not remember what I said. How do you adequately explain what experiences in your life lead you down the paths you take? I remember that I had said something short and unimpressive. There were 11 rabbis from the Sanhedrin present and the ceremony seemed to be a work in progress as we proceeded. This was the second time that this type ceremony had taken place. The first time (a year earlier) there were ten people who took the oath. In a conversation with Rabbi Yoel Schwartz, he said that I should consider making my tzit tzits look a little different, maybe with rainbow colored strings (symbolizing the rainbow in the story of Noah), or simply wear them under my clothing so I am not accidently counted in a minyon. We were not expecting the firestorm that happened. We thought that what we had done would go relatively unnoticed. Yet after arriving home, the small ceremony we had participated in resulted in a flood of emails. Some seemed to be genuine and curious, others were filled with “ah hah” questions, and a few even contained insults and profanity. They claimed that they were "real" Noahides and we were not. Comment: Mr. Richardson. You are a religious quack. You are an idolator, not a Noachide. You lack the courage to be  truthful and honest, and without courage you will never find the G-D of the Jewish people. You are too much of a coward to be a "real Noachide." Get a life, censored.   Comment: You're an unctuous ass, Rick Richardson. And a disgusting liar. You are NOT a practicing Noachide - You're an idol-worshipping Christian. "Too much honor is half disgrace." You cannot imagine the emotional damage you have done to real Noachides like me and who knows how many others. You should learn to adhere to the shibboleths of your own religion before you meddle in the religion of others. As we say up here to those who have wronged us, "May the rats eat you mail." A real Noachide.   Comment: You are an censored, Richardson. You are living in a dream -- an illusion. You really need help. Christian wing-nuts always revert to the ambiguousness of "prophecy" (and since you're not Jewish, all prophecy in the Tanach will be outside of your Gentile realm) whenever their religious proposals are suspect, and you are no different. You are not Jewish, Richardson. You're a Gentile and an censored. That's all you'll ever be. Stay out of Israel. Israel doesn't need you. You belong outside of Israel. You're an idol-worshipping goy. Get real. Michael, Canada   After all of the commotion started, a couple members of the Sanhedrin contacted me personally, expressing their concern about the reaction, and hoping that I was not hurt by the comments and actions of others. I also received an e-mail from an advisor to the Sanhedrin. E-mail from an advisor to the Sanhedrin I was happy to respond to this e-mail, and over the years, I corresponded and visited him we we came to Israel. I continued to have a good relation with the Sanhedrin, and over the next few years would bring many more people to Jerusalem to take the Noahide oath. Converting Upon coming home from Israel I contacted the rabbi at the West Seattle Chabad House, to ask what steps I should take to convert. He still didn't seem too interested in working with us, but said he would guide us till he thought that we were "ready" to be referred to a "converting rabbi".  We agreed and then he told us "The first thing you need to do, is stop doing anything Jewish, it is offensive." So, we decided that I should wear my tzit tzits under my clothes (like Rabbi Schawrtz in Jerusalem had suggested), not as a an outer garment (as I had done for the past ten years). The Chabad House rabbi was not to excited about giving us much attention, but had us buy a book to read. After reading the book, a bit of time went by before the rabbi was able (willing) to talk to us again, and didn't give us any information, rather had us purchase another book to read. Changes Everything had been looking good at KOL, then suddenly we got the word that the General Manager of the Seattle cluster had been let go. He was my direct boss, and so I would be answering to someone new, as soon as the new GM started. When the new GM (former Sales Manager for KOMO/KVI/Star) began, it seemed like he was avoiding me. I tried to set up appointments to meet, but he would put them off. When we did meet he told me that all of the plans (including a big promotion) would be put on hold. It was not looking good. As I discovered later, he had made plans with the former PD for KTTH to come on board with him to KOL. So, it came as no suprise when one afternoon I was escorted out of the building, and I was out of a job. The new GM and PD did not last too long and Salem contacted me a few different times about coming back. Michael Riechart (the regional VP said one day that "letting Rick go was one of the biggest mistakes that we made in Seattle". It would be a couple of years, however, before I would be back at Salem. The Alphamall During my time off from radio, I decided to do an internet business; The Alphamall.  It was a membership-based market that combined an MLM component with it. The idea was good, but it took much more effort to put it together than what was anticipated. I hired a website tech guy from New York to do the job. He estimated that it would take about six months and cost about $10,000.00. However, after over a year, and spending $20,000.00 it still was nowhere near ready to open.   A Converting Rabbi Our attempt at converting to Judaism seemed to be going nowhere. Upon reading a second book, we were again waiting to get together with the Chabad House rabbi, when Rabbi Lapin, asked how our meetings with the rabbi were going. When I explained what was happening Rabbi Lapin seemed perturbed and within just a few days Rabbi Lapin had arranged for us to meet with a Sephardic Rabbi (Rabbi Solomon Benzaquen) who WAS a converting rabbi, and we began to attend a class (for people who were converting) once a week. Nissim Black            Francisco Gonzalez                Gary                   Rabbi Benzaqen Nissim and Gary (two of the other people in our conversion class) eventually converted and moved to Israel. Nissim has since gone back into performing rap, which he had been doing before he decided to convert to Judaism.   Susan and I had already stopped driving on Shabbat, and we do not like backing out of something that we had already committed to, so we were not able to attend the synagogue until a year later when we rented a "Shabbat room". We started attending SBH in Seattle the first Sabbath that we got back from Israel for Sukkot in 2008. We were told that the "rule" for converting is that you needed to live in the community for a year, prior to going before the Vaad (the governing body that oversees and approves conversions). So a conversion cannot BEGIN until you live in the community for at least a year. So, we rented a "Shabbat Room" (a master bedroom with a bathroom and refrigerator) that we would arrive to every Friday afternoon, and leave after Shabbat had ended on Saturday night. We did this for a year. However, during this time we found out that would not be sufficient consideration for "living in the community". We would need to move into the community full time. So, we would need to sell our mobile home in Auburn and move (full-time) to Seattle into the Jewish community. This was at a time (2007-2009) when the housing market had crashed and no one was getting approved for home loans. We advertised the mobile home for a REAL small amount (just enough to pay off the remain amount of the loan) and a young couple wanted to purchase it. The couple, however, did not have the money to pay for it all at once and would have to make payments. So, we had come to an agreement that they would make their payments and additionally pay the mobile home space rental. The mobile home court would not allow them to move into the home until they were the registered owners, because of the courts newly enacted policy of not allowing the mobile home owner to rent theirs homes. So for the next six (or more) months I was shuttling money back and forth. The young couple WAS able to come in and fix the home up, they just weren't able to move in until the sale was complete. In addition to having to (in essence) give our mobile home away, we also were in debt with the Alphamall. It had become apparent that it was not going to be ready to open without putting a considerable amount of additional money into it. Much of the debt was on credit, and I was faced with the only viable option of shutting down the Alphamall project and declare bankruptcy. It was a tough decision. After having the Shabbat room for a year, we were able to rent a downstairs apartment from friends (that we had met at the synagogue). So, we were now able to begin our year countdown to the START of our conversion process. Before the Vaad Our first year of living in the Seattle Jewish community was complete and we were scheduled to go before the Vaad.  I had always felt that we were treated vey well by the Jewish community. We were welcomed and felt "at home". However, our first meeting with the Vaad was not a pleasant one. There were seven or eight rabbis in the room, and the atmosphere was not a warm one. We were caught totally off guard. We were under attack. We had given them a short autobiography (which it didn't seem they had read) and had been living in the community for more than a year. It was a bit confusing as to why we were feeling so much hostility. It does not seem that other people that we talked to, experienced as much negativity as we did going through conversion, so it seemed a bit puzzling. The three rabbis that were in local (Seward Park) community seemed to be supportive, but some of the other rabbis from outside of the immediate area seemed to be very much against our conversion. My first book "Origins of Our Faith" came out about ten years earlier, and I thought perhaps that was the issue.  I was sure to tell Rabbi Benzaquen about my book and give him a copy after this encounter. We spent the next year or so being part of the community, building friendships, and learning about Judaism. One day Rabbi Benzaquen informed us that our second time before the Vaad had been scheduled. He instructed us to answer the questions directly and not to hesitate before answering, so we do not appear to be not committed. This was the meeting that would determine whether or not we would be accepted. If we were not, all of our plans would need to change. We were hopeful that this final time before the Vaad would be less hostile than our first time.  It was not. When we would answer a question it seemed like our words would be twisted to mean something else, and then we would need to explain and defend our answers. At the end of the meeting we knew that we had not been accepted, and Rabbi Benzaquen did not contact us with any contrary good news. We began to think about what we should do next, as several months went by. On July 3rd 2012, Rabbi Benzaquen came up to me and said "tomorrow at eleven." I was not sure what he was talking about. I then realized that we actually HAD passed our second meeting before the Vaad and we WERE converting. It was a strange feeling, since we had assumed we would need to have alternative plans, we were not at all prepared for this. We had wanted our conversion and Jewish marriage to be special. We talked about seeing if we could find away to get Rabbi Lapin and Rabbi Richman to Seattle for our wedding, but we were told that the wedding HAD to be the next day (less than 24 hours away). It was just before the three weeks (from the 17th of Tammuz to the 9th of Av). I had to buy tefillin, a couple more mezuzah, a gold ring, and get passport pictures (for the conversion documents). In addition we had to be sure that we had at least ten Jewish men to attend the wedding. Since it was the Fourth of July, many people were out of town, and we were unable to get a hold of a number of people we had wanted to attend. My mom, along with one of my brothers and one of my sisters came, but none of Susan's family (who lived in Idaho) were there. We had less than one day to run around and have everything ready. It certainly was not the "special" wedding that we had wanted.      Our daughter Jessica Dawn,  married Rick Lee Strand, June 8,2008 Separated in 2014 Children:  Celeste (father is John Heinzlmeir) born Oct 17, 2004 Skyler    (father is Rick Strand) born Sep 4, 2007 Jessica graduated with honors from Highline College, June, 2017, majoring in Journalism.        Our son, William Bryan, married Tara Jergens, March 28, 2009 Children:  Nevaeh   (born Feb 28, 2009)                   William   (born May 16,2013) Sound Advice   ...   This is a program we did for Business Radio KKOL (Interviews of Business Owners)              The Leo Agency Chess for Life West Seattle Natural Energy Beaux Arts Studio IBN Our plan was to move to Israel shortly after we converted. However, to do that we would need a source of income. This was problematic. We were moving to a country that spoke a language that not that fluent in, and yet radio was our career for 30 years. We would obviously be unable to get work working at a Hebrew speaking radio station, and there were no commercial English speaking stations in Israel. So, the solution seemed to be to start an internet radio station, that would broadcast FROM Israel TO the English speaking world. So, in 2012 I started Israel Broadcast Network (IBN) with the image liner "Bringing Israel to the World" and approached Yishai Fleisher to be my first program. Yishai was doing an English speaking program on an Israel Hebrew speaking station once a week, and was interested in getting on the air in the States. Since I was working in Seattle radio for Salem Communications, I was confident about getting the program on the air in Seattle and then expand from there (Salem had over 200 stations).  We began streaming on December 21,2012 (the day that the Mayan Calendar ended). I had given Yishai the format parameters, but he didn't seem to want to conform to the format. I said that was OKay because I could edit it to fit. I made a pitch to the station and we were ready to begin with a barter program. That means we were not going to pay for airtime; instead, we would provide commercial avails to the station, so the station could sell advertising. I began to air Yishia's show (edited to fit my format) over the stream. We were not putting it on the Seattle radio station because Yishai wanted to have a different intro, so I changed that. Then there was a concern over the editing; Yishai wanted more control of that (although I do not think that I ever received a properly edited show).  After a period of time the radio station was no longer agreeing to a "barter" arrangement, and was asking for airtime payment, if I chose to air the program.  As I was working on this, I approached Mike Siegel and Rabbi Lapin, and asked them if they would mind if I were to cut up their shows, using the topics pertinent to an Israel broadcast. I was editing three weekly shows and putting them on the stream, still waiting for Yishai to decide what he wanted.   Yishai Fleisher    Mike Siegel       Rabbi Lapin Three specific things happened to alter the plans that I had for IBN. First and most significant thing, was we suddenly had the responsibility of raising our two grandchildren Celeste and Skyler. They would be with us for the next five years. Second, I began writing my second book, and Third, a new internet station "The Voice of Israel" began operations. The "Voice of Israel" was conceptually very close to "IBN"; our image liner was "Bringing Israel to the World" ... theirs was similar "Bringing Israel Closer". The target audience was also the same, so rather than compete with someone who was essentially doing the same thing that I had been working on, it would make sense to work with them. I understood what had happened when I noticed that Yishai was one of the founders. However, although Yishai was involved with the station, he did not seem initially to be the one in charge. So I contacted Dan Diker (one of the "Voice of Israel" hosts) and we had a couple of conversations about the station and the direction that it was heading in.  It did not seem that whoever was programming had much experience in commercial radio nor was there any revenue strategy apparent. I e-mailed them my resume and a letter expressing my desire to help. Since I had 30 years experience in major market radio, having been Program Director of a couple of stations and having done nearly every other job in the industry (including Program Director and Sales Manager) I thought that there would be some interest in my help or input. I expressed my concern that they seemed to have no revenue strategy. Dan Diker passed my information along to the ones who were "in charge".  I never heard back from anyone and the station suddenly stopped broadcasting about a year later, due to a lack of funding. I initially contacted some of those who were involved with "Voice of Israel" after they stopped streaming, but it seemed as if most of them were interested in running their own programming. Redemption of the Lost Tribes I started writing "Redemption of the Lost Tribes" shortly after we converted, and it was published in early 2016.  I had started writing "Origins of Our Faith" (my first book) in 2001, and it was first published in 2003, so there was over a 10 year span of time between the two books. However, they focus on the same topic; the redemption of the Lost Tribes of Israel and the role that Christianity has in that redemption. "Redemption" focuses more on the redemption and history of the Ten Tribes and is written less exclusively to a Christian audience, because I had converted to Judaism between writing the two books.   As I began to work on IBN again, I realized that I could program three different formats that used a lot of the same material. So, I decided to have three internet stations; a talk station, a music station and a news station. Putting IBN together is a slow process. I wanted to put everything together quickly and "finish up" once we got everything up and running. That was, however, dependent on having programming on the air. So, I rented an office at Salem Media Group in Seattle (a radio station cluster that I had worked at for years) and then contacted Mike Siegel to see if he was willing to do an hour a week (he could do it as part of his daily programming and we could build it from there). One of the reasons that I rented the office was to have a place for Siegel to work out of. It seemed that it would benefit us both.  Unfortunately since the last time that we had talked Mike had moved to Arizona. He WAS intrigued with the show, and we agreed that I would find him a producer for that show (an hour every Wednesday evening). I lined up a producer, but just as we were ready to go he decided not to proceed with the job. The same thing happened again, and again Four producers all together. For some reason we were stuck. So, we shifted our attention to doing a daily two and a half minute newscast.                    Here is Our Daily Newscast. This News Widget is available from our website   www.i-b-n.com   The Way After coming out with my second book in 2016 (Redemption of the Lost Tribes) I began writing my third book.  Although, in reality, I had actually started writing the book much earlier. Redemption, had originally been bigger than it was, but then Al Miamon (a good friend and teacher) suggested that I split the book in two "You really have two different topics" he contended. So, I took his advice and divided the book in two, rewriting and adding to it, as I filled in awkward absent transitions from having ripped the book in two. The Way takes a unique view of early Christian history. However, I do not understand why that is. It should be the standard view of history, because it puts the movement into the context of the culture from which it emerged. I try to be as honest and objective as I can, and fill in the blacks to a marvelous conclusion. I hope you enjoy it.   How do you know if God is wanting YOU to do an important task? What if God chose you for a specific reason to accomplish something important?  My natural assumption is that if you believe such a thing, you are a crazy person.  Yet, throughout my life, I have felt that God has a specific important task for me to do. I have often wondered if everybody feels the same way and it is nothing more than human ego. On the one hand, it would seem that we are all self-focused, and a person should ignore any ideas of self importance, but on the other hand, if God is indeed expecting you to do this important task, you should not ignore what you are being drawn to do. It has always seemed to be a balance of remembering that although the task may be important, I am not. I am just this guy, trying to understand where and why I am heading down the road that I am.   .............