Neff Zone Column -- October 31, 2009

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BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN

I was gone but now, as my boyhood cowboy hero Gene Autry used to sing, "I’m back in the saddle again…" After the big KISS tribute concert my wife, Ann, and I embarked on a cross country road trip to see our daughter in Olympia, Washington. In total we drove 5075 miles, spending ten nights on the trail and one week in the Pacific Northwest.

When we returned, I walked smack into a project for ESPN (more on that later). The bottom line is that writing columns under these circumstances was just more than an old geezer could pull off. Now, for better or worse, I’m back at it, so here we go.

Driving across America was an eye-opener to say the least. Just seeing what’s out there proved to be interesting. We traveled through parts of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington.

FAVORITE STOP: The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. This was the last place Buddy Holly played (February 2, 1959). In the wee hours of the next morning Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper lost their lives in a plane crash in what is now known as "the day the music died." As I stood in the Surf, choked with emotion, I could "feel" rock and roll. The spirit of Buddy was there. We spent an hour looking at all the photos of the great rock and country stars that have played the Surf. The first concert I ever attended was headlined by Buddy Holly, so for me the Surf is a shrine like no other. The memory will not fade away.

BEST RESTROOMS: Hey, I’m old so finding restrooms on the interstate system is of major importance (if you catch my drift). By far, Iowa has the best rest stops with some resembling old train stations and one south of Clear Lake on I-35 housed in a refurbished barn that includes a shop where you can get a slice of home made pie and watch football games on a huge plasma TV.

In general, the Midwest states have the cleanest restrooms and the best welcome centers. As you go farther west the stops are fewer, far between, and a tad grungier. I’m pretty sure the state motto for Wyoming is: "Welcome to Wyoming, if you get lost it ain’t our problem and we hope you can hold your water."

ODDEST RESTROOM SIGN: In one of the Wyoming stops in the middle of nowhere (you could see for miles in every direction) a sign read: "No washing pots and pans in the restroom sink." Now, I don’t know about you but when we finish a meal at our house no one ever says, "Get those pots and pans together and I’ll take them out to the expressway rest stop and wash them in the restroom sink." That sign was a head-scratcher.

MOST UBIQUITOUS TV COMMERCIAL NATIONWIDE: No matter where you go and regardless of what cable system runs in your chosen motel, it’s on TV over and over. I’m talking about the Snuggie, of course, those fleece blanket with arm holes thing-a-ma-bobs. One commercial shows a bunch of people at a football game and they are all wearing Snuggies to ward off the cold. I go to a lot of games and I thought about buying a Snuggie for such occasions but I opted for another brand new invention that also keeps we warm and is a bit more cutting edge. It’s called a coat.

ESPN WHEN I RETURNED: Regular readers know that in the week preceding the KISS tribute concert on September 26, the Cadillac News ran a history piece about KISS coming to Cadillac in 1975. That story was picked up by the Associated Press and has appeared in newspapers across the country.

ESPN discovered the story and decided to do a feature about it, so they sent a film crew to cover the Cadillac High School homecoming. I found out all this was going on as I was on the road through e-mails and phone conversations with the producer, Danny Arruda. ESPN wanted to come back to town and do interviews when I returned, so a date was set.

Last Thursday and Friday (October 22-23), another ESPN crew was in town to add to the feature. Arruda came in from ESPN headquarters in Connecticut, renowned video journalist Bill Roach drove from Madison, Wisconsin, and Chris Connelly came from Los Angeles to conduct the interviews. (You may recognize Connelly from Rolling Stone, MTV, ABC, ESPN Outside the Lines, and as co-host of the Academy Awards pre-show.) In short, ESPN has spared no expense in assigning "big hitters" to do the Cadillac story.

At their request, interviews included three players from the 1975 Cadillac football team, a cheerleader from that year, and two varsity coaches. The interviews were shot at locations around town and at CHS.

Later in November, the same crew will go to Los Angeles to do separate interviews with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS.

Right now the plan is to air the piece on SportsCenter either the week before or after the Super Bowl (which is on February 7). As Arruda explained to me, his department at ESPN produces features that appear on Sunday nights after the regular NFL season has concluded. The Cadillac News will keep you posted as to the airing of the Cadillac-KISS feature on ESPN.

NEXT WEEK: Watching football on the left coast while eating deep fried everything.

Jim Neff is a local columnist. Comments to neffzone@gmail.com. Read Neff Zone columns online at www.neffzone.com/cadillacnews.