Throwback Thursday: Erin’s Early Radio Rock Star Encounters

Ready for another "Throwback Thursday"? This time, I am sharing pictures of the days I worked in Rock radio, as yes, Leona. I'm still shocked to this day at how many people remember me and and they remember my voice. Needless to say, I'm flattered, and I'm pretty happy I was able to get a couple of good pictures and experiences out of it.

All right, this first picture is of me and Vivian Slade. Who?!? Okay, I hosted a show my last two semesters on WKU's radio station (New Rock 92/WWHR-FM) called "Siren's Song". It wasn't an original idea. Another grad created it, but one of my co-workers suggested I bring it back. It consisted of two hours of female artists, lead singers, and bands. Vivian lived in Nashville at the time, and incidentally, her husband is from Owensboro. I had her in the studio I think twice. This was taken after a show at Kelly Green's on the square in downtown Bowling Green. I still try to keep in touch with Vivian and Tood on Facebook.  The weekend of her show, I went to a wedding, and, I had a really big paper due the next week. I'm a trooper and yes, my hair was longer once. Oh, and I went by Sidney V on-air back then. True.

Next up, is a pretty big get. B.B. King! I helped emcee a Blues festival at Mesker Park Amphitheater and King was the headliner. I only got to introduce one act that day, Susan Tesdeschi, and I only got to meet her for about a minute. I took my friend Delia with me, you'll see her in the next picture, and we got to sit, not ride, in a limo. Huh? It was a very long day, but at the end, this picture was worth it. This guy is living legend!

Okay, this next one, I'm back at Mesker with Delia and this time we got to attend an all-day rock show starring all hair metal bands, sweet! The line-up: Dokken, Slaughter, Cinderella, and, Poison. I was told by my promotions director there would be meet and greet for Poison! So I went out and bought their first CD, "Look What The Cat Dragged In" in hopes Bret, Bobby, CC, and Rikki would all sign it. The show was great, and then we waited a little while and when it came time for meet and greet, only Bobby, CC, and Rikki came back out. We were told Bret was "sick" and he wasn't going to come back out. Bobby was an easy autograph, but when we got to CC DeVille, oh boy. If you recall, CC was a bit of a wild card, and I believe he was NOT sober on this particular occasion. As soon as he saw Delia, he said in his thick Brooklyn accent: "You're hot!" Okay then. And see the guy to the left, he had an original album sleeve of the same CD I bought, well, when he asked CC to sign it, CC said, "I won't sign anything unless it has Samantha 7 on it!" Samantha 7 was a side project, and I kept thinking this guy is off his rocker, no pun intended. Yikes! PS, Rikki never got around to us either, so I have a Poison CD with only Bobby's autograph, sad face.

Finally, the jewel of the bunch, no offense to B.B. King, but I love this picture of me and Kerry King from Slayer. He held a guitar clinic at a bar in Owensboro and guys would literally play for him then with him. Major league shreddin' was going on. It was a unique event for sure. As I recall, Kerry was pretty cool and the picture is priceless.

Show me some throwback metal!