Paul Harvey...Good Day

Saturday February 28th, 2009 - DeKalb, IL

Paul Harvey died today. His voice will be forever embedded in my memory as I’ve been hearing it from as far back as I can remember. Growing up in Milwaukee my grandmother would listen to him EVERY SINGLE DAY without fail. She must have been a groupie.

As a kid I had no choice and if I was home at noon I just knew Paul Harvey would be as much a part of lunch as a bologna sandwich so I didn‘t even question it. Hearing him say ‘Hello Americans - Stand by for NEWS‘ meant it was time to leave my grandma alone.

I couldn’t stand him as a kid but as I grew up I learned to appreciate how truly fantastic he was as a broadcaster. What a talent. He could say volumes in just a few words and his expressive voice delivered his eloquently written stories with the touch of a surgeon. I’ve yet to hear a radio person slice the airwaves with as sharp of a knife as Paul Harvey had.

How many millions of people did that guy touch? He was on the air my entire life and I know he was on the air long before that too. Even in recent years whenever I’d hear him I would never turn him off. I couldn’t. It was ingrained into me from my earliest memory.

I really respect a guy like that. He was an icon. He lived a great life and touched a lot of other people along the way. That’s the perfect mix in my opinion and that’s all that really matters in this life. The touching of people’s hearts in a positive way is what I live for.

My heart was touched that way tonight as I stopped at the Barrel of Laughs on my way home from a show in DeKalb, IL at Northern Illinois University. The show was excellent and I was in a great mood so I stopped to see who was hanging out at the comedy club.

There were several comedians I hadn’t seen in a while there like Chuck Kilgore from Indiana and Donny Williams and Brian Hicks from Chicago and my ventriloquist friend Peter Hefty from Wisconsin. I’ve known Pete since I started and he’s a generation ahead of me. He was always willing to help and was and is a gentle soul. It was great to see him.

He came up and gave me a big hug and immediately told me how he’s heard my name a ton of times all over the country and whenever he does he said it was always very positive and usually from a younger comic that I had helped at some point. That made my month.

That’s truly all that matters in this world or at least I think so. If I’ve been able to make a difference and encourage others so much they remember it enough to tell people behind my back it’s the ultimate compliment and I appreciate it very much. All I want is to send out good karma but sometimes I have no idea if I’m doing that or not. I’m numb to it all.

As I get older material things mean less and less. I’m fine with driving a car I bought at the auction and if I had millions of dollars I probably still would. Hearing Peter Hefty tell me people all over the country say good things about me or having a hot show in DeKalb is worth way more than any new car, at least to me. Now you know the rest of the story.