Kris Krug is a fashion and editorial photographer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. His photographs have appeared in JPG Magazine, ION Magazine, Business Week, Wired Magazine, and others. I think he’s kind of a big deal but I’m sure he’s a terrific photographer. His Gnomedex pix are some of the best I’ve seen so far.
Mom was a farm girl. Dad was a city boy. The war was over and they met in St. Louis. I was born in 1948 in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and grew up in Kennett (about an hour to the south). Dad was a “radio announcer” and mom worked for the “welfare department.” Job titles that –like my youth–vanished years ago.
A little piece of shrapnel from the Baby Boom, I watched a lot of TV. In the early 50’s I sat two feet from the Motorola, staring at the Indian-head test pattern until the afternoon programming got underway. The spirit of Norman Rockwell hovered over me through a near-perfect childhood.
The Beatles released I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND in the US just after Christmas in 1963 and it a very big deal by February of ’64. Hard to imagine a better time to be a high school sophomore. We weren’t paying much attention to Viet Nam, yet.
By the time I started college in the fall of 1966, getting and keeping a draft deferment was top of mind. I quickly switched my major from Business to Theater. Guys were coming back from Viet Nam and bringing good drugs and great music and protesting was catching on, even in the Midwest.
I was part of the first draft lottery and drew number 210, just low enough to be dangerous. Following graduation in 1970, I goofed off all summer before –at my father’s suggestion– entering law school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. I attended classes and kept my deferment until Nixon froze the draft (in December of 1970) at lottery number 195. I quit law school the following week, just before finals.
In the spring of 1971, I went to work for the U.S. Postal Service as a Postal Inspector. After three months of training in D.C. I was sent to Pendleton, Oregon, where I audited small post offices in Oregon and Washington. I counted stamps and money orders for almost a year and investigated exploded rural mail boxes (a federal crime). Like law school, not what I had in mind.
In early ’72 I returned to the Midwest and hung around Memphis for a few months before returning to Kennett in early summer. In July, I started working at KBOA on the overnight shift and found my true calling. For the next dozen years I spun records and MC’d the Little Miss Christmas Belle Pageant.
In March, 1973, I met Barb at Tommy’s North-End Cafe and fell in love. We dated for six years and married in 1978.
In June, 1984, we moved to Jefferson City, Missouri, to work for Learfield Communications. For the next 15 years or so, I handled affiliate relations for the company’s various radio networks. When the Internet came along, I got the bug and slowly started migrating in that direction. I now spend most of my waking hours online –with periodic breaks for Barb and the dogs–and look forward to every day.
March 8, 2003
You too can look as good as Shery Crow. All you have to do is stuff your big bottom in a pair of her new Bootheel Tradiing Co. jeans, which went on sale nationwide August 15 (at Dillard’s among other retailers).
Ms. Crow celebrates the official retail launch with the first of several in-store appearances. She will be stopping by Las Vegas’s Fashion Show Mall on Aug. 26 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. [Thanks to official SC stalker, Lewis]
Barb hired a professional sand castle artist Mark Flynn to give the family a lesson. Not too bad for a first try. And lots of fun. Here’s the flickr set and slide show.
That’s a lot of windshield time for smays.com. But the company was good (Barb) and the distance still within my 1,000 mile drive-rather-than-fly range. Did I mention how much I hate the hassle of flying. You know what? I can’t wait for the current batch of American carriers to go belly-up. Sooner that happens, the sooner we’ll see alternatives. I’m serious as a depressurized cabin. But hey, I’m on vacation. Happy thoughts only.
The Miltenberger Clan has gathered here in beautiful Desin for a week of sun and fun. The nearby Starbucks (sorry, Taisir) has free wifi and I have some good books I’ve been stockpiling. Gotta run, it’s time for my post-drive bottom massage.
Destin-bound for the semi-annual (bi-annual?) Miltenberger Family Reunion. The clan will be descending on Amberjack Landing this weekend. I’m not a beach kinda guy (see Dudley Moore in “10”) but I love getting together with Barb’s family. Blogging will be sparse unless I can find a place with a cooler AND wifi.
If you want to glimpse the future, spend time with those that will live there. Back from a weekend with my brother and his family. The kids are 18, 16 and 12. They’re back in the states for 6 months to help Ryan get settled in college.
Uncle Steve was a big hit with his belated graduation present, but after giving Ryan his new iPod Touch, he was a little distracted the rest of the weekend. I also miss a lot of birthdays so we did a little catch-up with the other two. They opted for PSP’s (Play Station Portables).
The family is international with friends all over the world. But the kids do not use email to keep in touch (“Uncle Steve, please!”). The primary comm tools are SMS (texting) and Facebook. I had read that but it was interesting to hear it straight from the teenage horse’s mouth.
I’ve had a Facebook page for a while but never use it. If I want to keep in touch with my nephews and niece, that has to change.
Oh, and those PSP’s? Wifi ready so when they’re not gaming (or while they are), they can keep in touch with friends.
PS: On Saturday we stopped by the local Apple store. Packed. An iPhone class was underway and there were more gray heads than mohawks.
30 years ago, my brother, his wife and I toured Oklahoma and southern Missouri with a small circus. Our trampoline act was the headliner. This weekend we discovered we still had the moves and the magic.
The video above (4 min) is a walk around the lake at the Prairie Garden Trust with Pete, Sam and Boots.
Long before the glitz and glamor that is “professional wrestling” today, Memphis, Tennessee, was something of a mecca for the… let’s not call it a sport… for the business. Some of the big names of the day would also appear in small town venues, including the VFW in Kennett, Missouri. From here, I’ll let Michael Spooner share his Brush With Near Greatness:
“For those who may not know, Sputnik Monroe was a celebrated Memphis wrestler in the late 1950’s and 60’s. He, along with many other wrestlers, came to Kennett to fight. I recall, at least in Kennett, no one seemed to like Sputnik since he had this ‘bad guy’ reputation. And for a couple of seasons we, too, did our share of booing Sputnik. Until the day, one Saturday afternoon, when he came to our home as a guest for dinner. This wasn’t a complete surprise since we were warned of his visit. Nevertheless, my sisters and I were shaking in our boots, while at the same time, immensely excited that an ‘almost movie star’ was coming to our house.
Well how did this happen, you ask? First of all, Sputnik and my mother never dated. My mother, however, did date a wonderful guy named Skip Pepper from Memphis for a few years in the late 50’s. At the time Skip owned a Dollar Store in Kennett, located on the north west corner of the town square. Skip knew Sputnik as a friend (we didn’t know this until we learned of his coming to dinner). It was Skip who arranged the visit.”
It’s a shame Michael’s mom never dated Sputnik. A guy could do a lot worse than “My Mom Dated Sputnik Monroe” for the title of an autobiography.
From Sputnik’s Wikipedia entry: On May 4, 2007, HBO announced they would make a movie based on Monroe’s life. On September 6, 2007 Julien Nitzberg confirmed the first draft of the Sputnik movie had been completed. A Los Angeles-based rock band is named after him. More on Sputnik Monroe. And I found this tribute to Sputnik following his death.
If you were with me here at the Coffee Zone, I could demonstrate the Man’s signature “Sputnik Strut.”