If you are not from Kansas City, this post won't mean much to you, but to those of us who know Jack, he is as about as quirky as an icon can get for a major metropolitan area. Jack has pretty much made his fame a lot of his fortune by reviewing movies for Kansas City media outlets. I met Jack in about 1978 when I first arrived in KC from a much smaller market (Quad Cities). At the time he was filming a semi-pornographic movie that featured a giant penis running down the streets of Kansas City. Nice. First impressions as they say.. At that time on KY 102 every night at 5:50, we ran a feature called "Nighttime Magazine" which basically brought you up to date with everything going on in the city. For the next ten minutes or so, someone; whether it be Ted Nugent, Alan Carr, Pee Wee Herman, etc or the local bar owner or client that had something going on in the city was on that night. It was our chance to stop the station for about ten minutes and have some fun with whoever it was. "Nighttime Magazine" was one of the most popular features ever and it was just the station being local, topical, entertaining and fun without playing music. What a concept! Anyway, Friday night was "Jack Goes To The Movies Night" when that ten minutes would stretch to twenty because Jack brought real good shit to the party. Like the time he brought producer Alan Carr on the show becasue Alan was in town for the (shitty) remake of "Where The Boys Are". Alan takes a seat, the interview begins and Alan decides to drop his hand right on my leg. The audio is brilliant and Jack has it somewhere. The concept was brilliant, sure...let's get a guy with a German accent and have him come in every week and review movies...sure. Max Floyd was a friggin genius with that move. Jack has been just about the face of KY over those years. Jack and I have known good times and bad and ups and downs, he remains a guy of great class and dignity. I have never seen him drive anything but a Mercedes. His weird fetish for "Mama Mia" aside, Jack is a guy you can really have a good time with just sitting and drinking. I know because I have. Many times. As his show gets ready to celebrate it's 30th anniversary (on one station, pretty much uninterrupted), I am proud to consider him as a good friend. Here's the link to his website.
This was in Cincinnati during the lost weekend 1984, I believe. We ate at a German restaurant and dined with Randy Micheals. Got really really really trashed. Left to right: Jack, Paul Fredrocks, Skid Roadie, me.
Jack at his other job with Sheldon Travel. He is a great travel guy, also.
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