Gross National Product performing on stage

My First Radio Job and My Band

My first radio job, after broadcast school in Milwaukee, was in Rogers City, Michigan. Nice small town on the water (nice beaches)in northern lower Michigan. The station was WHAK. I met these guys at a sock-hop I did in Petoskey who called themselves the Heathens. We actually did a half-hour live radio broadcast on Saturday mornings. Owner was a religious fanatic and didn't like the name of the band. His wife who was secretary took me aside one day and said I didn't belong in radio because I wasn't good enough. Decided to move to St.Ignace and work for WIDG(widg by the bridge)as Joe Arthur. That is where I met Kathy. Thought I had better write some of this stuff down while I still remember it. Joe a.k.a. Joey Gee and The Come Ons

Growing Up Hunting in the U.P., eh? Michigan

When my father took me hunting for the first time and let me carry a gun, here are some of the rules he went by. I started hunting at 10 years old and was never allowed to have or use a BB gun, because my Dad said all kids would do with them is kill small birds or shoot somebody's eye out. We only hunted animals that we could put on the table for food. Rule # 1: Don't point a gun at someone unless you are going to kill them! When I first heard him say that I was shocked trying to imagine: Why would he say that? Then it dawned on me. Rule # 2: Understand that a gun is always loaded even if it is not! Rule # 3: Always know the target you are shooting at! No sound shots! If you hear a sound, don't take a shot and hope some animal or bird will be found dead. You might be in for an unwanted surprise. Since we grew up poorer than poor, we never took practice shots or a shot at a partridge, deer or whatever, unless we had a real good chance of making a kill. Hunting for our family was more for the food and being out in the wilderness, but it was sport,too. If I came home with shots fired and no bird or animal I was yelled at! Made me learn to be a careful and accurate hunter. When I was twelve my father bought me my first gun, a 22, for my birthday. That small game hunting season (we could hunt from our backyard) he told me to go up in the hills to see if I could get a rabbit or grouse. I was on an old dirt road and the local Iron Mountain police were in a patrol car (don't know why they were way up there) stopped me and took my gun away! I told them I was hunting, but they didn't believe me. When I got home and told my Dad about it, he grabbed my hand and we headed for the police station. Don't remember his words, but my father was mad as hell when he confronted the chief of police (Rayhoy). He explained what happened and how the patrol officer more or less called me a liar and took my gun. The chief agreed with my father, apologized to me and gave the gun back. The reason I remember the chief's name was because he had done such nice things for all us kids when I was growing up. On Friday nights, he would invite us to watch movies at the hall and serve us spaghetti dinner. Other times all us kids would make model airplanes and so forth. We admired the police. I'm sure you are all sick of the Dick Cheney jokes, but I do have some questions on his hunting. He was using a 28-gauge (the smallest next to a 410) and I don't understand how he could put over a hundred pellets in a person at 30 yards when I doubt if you could even kill a quail at that distance. Doesn't gel with me. Of course, most folks wonder whey he took five days to tell Fox News what happened. Why was it just Fox News and not all the networks? Was he afraid he might be asked the wrong questions or does he have something to hide? Don't blame the news media for something you did. Questions are supposed to be asked of you when you're Vice President of the United States! More and more stories are coming out about his hunting excursions. In Wyoming, when hunting with his friends, they would have bets on who would kill the first antelope (he really needed the meat) and one time he took a long out-of-range shot, ended up wounding the animal and the hunting party followed it most of the day. Another time they (whoever he was hunting with) had a contest to see who could get the most pheasants (this was on private land in North Dakota) Dick Cheney won by killing 75! How many of those did he eat? I knew a guy that went hunting with Dick Cheney and all he ended up with at the end of the day was a bloody t-shirt with BB holes in it! (Joke) Again....let's make getting a hunting license (I guess Dick didn't have one) for a Vice President as hard as it is for older folks to get medicare. Good Night and Good Hunting, Joe

Proposal to Revise Hunting License Regulations

Due to the very unfortunate incident involving Vice President Dick Cheney in the hunting accident where he shot a man, I think we should all propose and help pass into law, and make it just as hard for a Vice President to get a hunting license as it is for retired folks to get Medicare. Ask yourself this: Do you feel safer today than you did six years ago when you are out on the hunting range where Dick Cheney could be carrying a gun? Enough said. Joe

Why We Fight -- documentary debuts

Just came from the documentary, coming out this week, "Why We Fight". Very factual and not a Michael Moore-type show. It will make you sick,(at least it should) after you see it. Not because of dead bodies of innocent adults and children in Iraq, and that is bad enough, but to think of how we condone it. This is not an anti-republican or anti-war movie but it will explain, in great detail of what has gone on in our country for a long time and what is going on today. Very disturbing. I'm surprised the government hasn't suppressed it(maybe they will) from going to all theaters around America! Just a few factual thinmgs: First as good of a President Harry Truman was supposed to be, he wanted the A-bombs dropped on Japan before they had a chance to surrender. The United states had to show the rest of the world how powerful we were and don't mess with us. To do that we killed hundreds of thousands innocent Japanese men, women and children. General Eisenhower did not want that, and tried to prevent it to no avail. When Dwight D. Eisenhower was president he warned of a military build-up. On his final speech before he left office he was very concerned if we ever get a president who hasn't fought in a war!! We all know George W.Bush didn't. When you see how our congressmen and senators, Democrat and Republicans, all defend their own states because of the big military contracts awarded to each and how they manipulate things to get those contracts you will know what I mean. The motion picture points out how we are not allowed to see on television, flag-draped coffins, dead American soldiers, and very seldom actual fighting, you will realize why. The Vietnam War might still be going on today, had TV not showed military actions, wounded soldiers and innocent civilian deaths of families. I very seldom get any response from any of you about this kind of stuff. I understand we all have families to support, house and car payments and so on to take time to worry about wars. Or maybe you have all given up? I worked in radio during the time of the Vietnam war and remember the protesters that stood up against it. They should not have blamed the soldiers, mostly poor kids from small towns, though. They were told the war was right!! I too, maybe like you now, had a wife and two small children to support and never participated in any. I did have the air waves, however, to get my point across, often. We on-air DJs could actually play anti-war songs and make comments without getting in trouble. In a free country you are supposed to be able to do that! With all the conservative conglomerates owning most of the radio stations today, you will never hear Donovan's 'Universal Soldier', Barry McGuire's 'Eve of Destruction', Edwin Stars' 'War(what's it good for)', 'Blowin in the Wind', 'Where Have all the Flowers Gone?', 'Four Dead in Ohio' and many more. Satellite radio will put them all out of business in a few years anyway. The only pro-war song I remember playing was the late Staff Sergeamt Barry Sadler's 'Ballad of the Green Berets'. My brother Gene was in the Green Berets in Vietnam. He was shot several times in the back by the Viet Cong and left for dead. He ended up with a permanent disability and roams the country. I haven't seen him in years and hope he is OK. I don't want to carry this out too long so just see the movie if it comes to a theater near you. I'm no movie critic but this should be a must see. The American Empire goes on forever. Take care. Joe

Seahawks' Welcome Home Celebration

I went down to the "Welcome back Seahawks celebration" at the football stadium in Seattle yesterday and here is what I observed. First of all, it was a beautiful sunny day and inspite of the rain we get (it is truly not as bad as out of townees think) I thought of how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful city with mountains, water, hunting and fishing in our backyards. I hear that in Pittsburgh (this is not sour grapes) that if a person puts too much oil on their skin the soot from the steel factories will stick to it. Sometimes it is so thick and dark that the street lights come on automatically at noon. I'm sure there are good things about living in Pittsburgh, too, but I just can't think of anything!! When fans were greeted at the gate the ushers were very kind and handed out free 12Th Man flags and Seahawks beads to everyone. They all wore legitimate natural smiles of optimism on their faces. Most fans, like myself, had some kind of shirt or hat just to show you were a Seahawk fan. Many families showed up all dressed up and taken out of school for the afternoon's celebration. We all watched the Seahawks' jet fly over Qwest Field and some fans swore they could see Shawn Alexander waving to us as the chanting of "refs suck, refs suck..." filled the stadium. We all knew we had at least a half hour before the players would be at the stadium after that. I think what struck me the most was the feeling I got from a big percent of the fans that they lived and breathed the Seahawks and the winning and being part of something was very important in their lives. In many cases the only thing in their lives! I saw tears well up in the eyes of many when the players, all of them, walked along the stadium giving high-fives and shaking fans' hands and signing autographs. We all know that no matter, if you are rich or poor or in between, we all have days of heaven and hell. All in all it was a good thing for the fans and they all were smiling and buying Seahawks hats and T-shirts (including myself) and really do believe we will make it again next year. Some Superbowl facts: Seahawks lost 161 yards on penalties (70) and flags wiped out (91). By half-time alone we trailed 7-3 and had 73 hard-earned yards and a touch-down eliminated. In the game, Seattle had almost 400 total yards and would have had 560 total yards and won the football game, if it wasn't for the refs. Must admit, we still should have won even if the whole world was against us. As much as I like Jerome Bettis, I felt the game was more about him getting his ring. Kind of like when most of the country wanted John Elway to get his Super Bowl ring before his career ended. At least he got his legitimately! Last night David Letterman asked quarterback of the Steelers Ben Roethlisberger if he thought he made the touchdown. Ben said "no" and even told his coaches that. Life goes on and fish are always biting (not true) but, fishing will set your mind free. Cheers, Joe

Did Las Vegas Odds-Makers Influence Outcome of Super Bowl XL?

Just realized why the refs in the Super Bowl had all the calls go against the Seattle Seahawks. It was LasVegas! Here is my take: The Steelers were favored by 4 points to win the game. On Saturday the bets started pouring in with (from what I hear) 75 percent going towards the Seahawks winning! If the Seahawks would have won, the casino owners would have lost millions. There was no way the Seahawks were going to win! How hard would it be for someone to slip a hundred thousand in cash under a ref's door in the middle of the night? He would be too afraid to let Seattle win. Just my opinion. After all, if two presidential elections can be stolen, how hard would it be to steal a little ol' Super Bowl?

Referees and Steelers 21, Seahawks 10

Super Bowl Final Score: Referees and Steelers 21, Seattle Seahawks 10

Seahawks' Super Bowl Victory Taken Away by Refs

Well, I don't want to sound like a sore loser, but I really believe the refs took the Super Bowl away from the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle did have their share of mistakes and could have been up 24-0 at half-time had everything gone right. Refs took at least a couple of our touchdowns away and gave them at least one. It is the worst officiating game I have ever seen in my life time!!! I now really believe there is an east coast bias towards the northwest. I used to hear that a lotwhen we first moved out this way from Michigan in 1971, but thought it was just folks'imagination. Hate to tell them, but we really do have paved streets out here, we won't be killed by a grizzly bear and Seattle is not in Canada!! (perhaps we should be) People from lower Michigan used to, (and maybe still do) think those same things about the U.P. (Say ya to da U.P. too,eh!! When the Seahawks first were formed, I still remember watching the Kingdome being built and then blown up a few years ago(starting to feel old!!)and buying season tickets, nice seats for $7.50. It was exciting! When the new football field was built I had season tickets for the first two years. Living in the Upper Peninsula, near Greenbay where one could never get a ticket unless someone gave you one, I thought I was real lucky out this way. After a while I found out it wasn't much fun losing and getting your hopes up for the Seahawks but this year was different. I still only watched the games if I didn't have something else going on the weekends (like fishing, hunting or going to the ocean)or having dinner with friends,etc.) I watched the playoffs and it was fun, but I let my heart get in the way when it came to the Superbowl!! I truly thought we would win big, and if we lost it would have been OK, if the better team would have won! A lot of these feelings go back to my high school days,(John Lavoto and Ken Anderson will remember)1960-61 Norway High School, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where sports is more like a religion and we used to live and breathe them. We had excellent athletes at Norway, first time in many years, and John Lavoto was a superior running back that senior year of high school. We were predicted to go undefeated that year, we had such good players. We started out great and won all our games until we played Iron Mountain, whom we were predicted to beat easily. Game day,since we thought it would be an easy win, most of us decided to get up early that Saturday morning,(4 a.m. or so)and go partridge hunting, since it was the first day of bird season and we wouldn't dare miss it. I went with Ron DeBernardi and I think,(John, correct me, if I'm wrong) and most of the team went, also. We were all pretty tired. Before we knew it we were down 13 nothing at halftime. I can still hear Gene Melchori telling us, along with our head coach Allen Ronberg, that if we lose we will remember this game for the rest of our lives. They were right. We lost 13-6 and do remember it as if it were yesterday. It was a long and sad bus ride home. The same feeling came over me yesterday, but in away it was worse, because I felt the game was taken away,(not totally)by the refs. Can't imagine being a player, but I would be rich!!! Quite a few years later when my brother Bob Giannunzio won a couple of state championships as head coach of Norway High School,(I never got to see any of the games and get that enjoyment of winning.) Sorry I missed em. I, however, do remember him telling me how Norway never made the playoffs after being undefeated, because of the crazy point system they had at that time, before that. (By the way Pete Focasoto who played on my brother's championship teams lives in Arlington,Washington, a few miles from me and I see him often. Going back to 1961, Norway also had a great basketball team! I wasn't on it, but John Lavoto was. We lost the U.P. Championship in triple-overtime. Most of the entire first team had fouled out. I remember a lot of bad calls in that game,too!! That Monday returning to school the students were so depressed because of the loss, that the superintendent canceled all classes for the day, and we all sat in the assembly hall and the teachers and coaches tried to cheer us up. There was a lot of crying and yes, there is crying in basketball. It was like a funeral in there, and I can still feel it, as I write these words today. As life goes on, I still remember all those things along with the good things too of friends, sports or not of high school in Norway, Michigan. What I feel grateful for most, is the fact that I learned to hunt, fish and do things in the outdoors from growing up in Michigan. My father and Uncle Romeo would always say,

no mater what happens out there in that great big world, you will always have the great outdoors to fill your enjoyment.

It is true. So today, I will go out and see if I can catch another big(any size, it doesn't matter) trout or two for supper. While I'm out there, I'm sure the memories of the Seahawks loss will enter my mind, but a hard tug on the line will make me forget quickly. After I land a fish or two and the the bite is off for a while, I will reminisce about the high school days of Norway and sometimes wish that last basket that swirled the hoop just before time expired would have gone in!!! The Seattle Seahawks are having a welcome back from the Superbowl get together at the football stadium tomorrow at 2 pm. I will put down my fishing pole and be there tomorrow!! I need closure. Cheers, Joe

Five Pound Trout

Hello, fishers! (politically correct term) Last summer my four-year-old granddaughter, Ruby, caught a four-pound rainbow trout at Green Lake, in Seattle. Much bigger than any trout I had ever caught before. Iwas kind of jealous. I had to go and out-do her this winter at Beaver Lake, a few miles from the house. Sparkle Rainbow Power Bait was the trick with slip sinker, 3 feet of 4-lb test leader! (scary) Only two bites in five hours of fishing, but worth it. Notice how bright the stripe is on the native rainbow. More like a steelhead. I was shaking when I had to net it by myself and feared if I lost it no one would believe me on the size. Size does mater! May your fish all be big ones! To see the BIG ONE that didn't get away, look at the Photo in my Complete Profile.

Super Bowl XL Seahawks vs Steelers

Submit your Seahawks versus Steelers Super Bowl prediction! Let's see who comes the closest. You win...absolutely nothing. :) My prediction? Seahawks 34 Steelers 17

Wisdom of Chief Dan George

I was lucky enough to shake hands with Chief Dan George back in the late seventies and observe him at a pow-wow in Seattle. It was almost a feeling of seeing the Pope. He was so sincere and at peace with himself. He died in 1981. I didn't have grandchildren then, but after picking up his book and reading it again, I again realize how much wisdom he had. Wish he could have lived forever and in a way he has. You might remember him from the movie LITTLE BIG MAN and others. He lived in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I will pass some of his thoughts your way every so often. Hope you like them and can instill some of these thoughts to your children and grandchildren. From Chief Dan George: My Heart Soars

The wisdom and eloquence of my father, I pass on to my children, so they too acquired faith, courage, generosity, understaning, and knowledge in the proper way of living. Such are the memories of yesterday! Today, harmony still lives in nature, though we have less wilderness, less variety of creatures. Fewer people know the cougar's den in the hills, nor have their eyes followed the eagle's swoop, as he writes endless circles into the warm air. The wild beauty of the coastline and the taste of sea fog remains hidden behind the windows of passing cars. When the last bear's skin has been taken and the last ram's head has been mounted and fitted with glass eyes, we may find in them the reflection of today's memories. Take care, or soon our ears will strain in vain to hear the creator's song. The young and the old are closest to life. They love every minute dearly. If the very old will remember, the very young will listen.

Oil Profits

It has come to my attention and I'm sure you have seen it on the news the last few days, on the huge profits the oil companies are making. Like Exxon with 34.13 billion in profit last year. They would have made 6 billion more if car drivers wouldn't have cut down some on their driving because of the high price of gas and old folks on fixed incomes wouldn't have turned down their oil heat to near freezing. How selfish those old people are! To make up for it, I suggest you bring a donation box to your local gas station, and each time you get gasoline you put an extra dollar in the box to make up for the lesser profit! Would you want the big oil executives to miss out on one of the vacations to Tahiti? How dare you! As far as you older folks go...if you have drug prescriptions you can hardly afford, let alone your big, oil heating bill, go without them or split the pills in small pieces. There are plenty of plants out in the forests that I'm sure you could make your own remedies from! What did the native Americans do before we got here? Please do not blame your service station owners or home oil distributors. They have it tougher than we do. How would you like to be confronted every day on the price of fuel?

Privacy Today

Don't give up your privacy rights so easily! Spy research companies like Cellular Telecommunications Internet,where Steve Largent is president and CEO, aremaking huge profits by getting your medical records, credit records, phone records and more. They are paid big bucks for this information! This is the United States of America and don'tbelieve them when they say it is being done for the good of us all and it fights terrorism. We live in a free country and you are not unpatriotic, if you don't want to be spied on. Let's fight this before it is too late and more of our freedom is taken away. Check out this Web site: PRIVACYTODAY.COM A real eye opener!