http://www.japanupdate.com/forum Okinawa General Discussion en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:04:58 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/images/hexcell/misc//rss.jpg http://www.japanupdate.com/forum http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15324&goto=newpost Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:29:36 GMT hey yall i really wanna get my hands on the new call of duty for 360. anyone know where i can get one..:w00t: hey yall
i really wanna get my hands on the new call of duty for 360. anyone know where i can get one..:w00t: ]]> Okinawa okinwahancho http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15324 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15313&goto=newpost Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:24:09 GMT Where did all the typhoons go its been 3 years since we had one...... Where did all the typhoons go its been 3 years since we had one...... ]]> Okinawa fishokinawa http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15313 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15301&goto=newpost Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:34:56 GMT I heard the Kadena PX will be open 24 hrs a day from now until 25 November. I heard the Kadena PX will be open 24 hrs a day from now until 25 November. ]]> Okinawa TheLastDon http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15301 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15292&goto=newpost Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:03:05 GMT Seeing some radar action action on Kadena.. probably due to the recent accidents. Always a day late and a dollar short with the knee jerking, but... Seeing some radar action action on Kadena.. probably due to the recent accidents. Always a day late and a dollar short with the knee jerking, but they are around.

Got clocked going out Gate 3 earlier today in bumper to bumper traffic (while being passed by another car). Clocked going over the road spikes..:rolleyes: ]]> Okinawa Tanimaga http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15292 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15289&goto=newpost Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:47:44 GMT Like everyone else on the island, I'm constantly looking for new things to check out. So if yall could just write down 1 or 2 of your favorite experiences on OKinawa it might give some people some ideas.
Thanx:scratchchin: ]]> Okinawa okinwahancho http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15289 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15279&goto=newpost Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:40:06 GMT Aside from the PX/BX, Jusco and ¥100 Shop, does anyone know of any artist supply stores? Aside from the PX/BX, Jusco and ¥100 Shop, does anyone know of any artist supply stores? ]]> Okinawa DJ Tak http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15279 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15244&goto=newpost Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:16:45 GMT Hey I am a reporter for the Okinawa Marine newspaper. I'm looking for some interesting stories from some people on island. It can be anything unique. An awesome place people dont often hear about, a very unique person to do a feature on or an event.
Anything you think would be good to see in the paper.
thanx for any and all responses ]]> Okinawa okinwahancho http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15244 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15219&goto=newpost Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:54:04 GMT I'm building a table for my home. i found a glass shop already and now i wanna find a place that has unique wood to use. Any help or ideas are appreciated. ]]> Okinawa okinwahancho http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15219 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15200&goto=newpost Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:38:45 GMT North part of Okinawa island (Yanbaru area) has a lot of nature. Please post in here, good place to visit Okinawan beatiful nature. I love to... North part of Okinawa island (Yanbaru area) has a lot of nature.
Please post in here, good place to visit Okinawan beatiful nature.

I love to visit Hiji's big waterfall.

]]> Okinawa gtlm2000 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15200 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15197&goto=newpost Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:08:33 GMT I know someone has posted it before but I can't find it:D Does anyone have the clause in the SOFA agreement that states that the us government cannot restrict a local resident in Japan? Just curious, I swore that someone posted it in here before.

Thanks in advance:thumbup: ]]> Okinawa P_chan http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15197 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15174&goto=newpost Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:53:11 GMT Anyone heard anything about Dyncorp closing up shop in Okinawa? Friend told me some info, but had no details. Anyone heard anything? Anyone heard anything about Dyncorp closing up shop in Okinawa?

Friend told me some info, but had no details. Anyone heard anything? ]]> Okinawa Tanimaga http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15174 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15172&goto=newpost Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:44:43 GMT I was lucky. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that someone in my rating would KILL for. Right place, right time, right rating, right duty... I was lucky. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that someone in my rating would KILL for.

Right place, right time, right rating, right duty station, right command. Planets and stars were aligned perfectly. The Gods of Fortune were smiling down on me.

Back in 1983, Phil Ehart -- the drummer for Kansas and an Air Force brat -- approached the USO with an idea: put together an all-star rock band made of his friends to tour bases overseas as a morale-booster for the troops. After details and logistics were ironed-out, Ehart assembled his first incarnation of the USO band, consisting of:

• Cheap Trick (Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Bun E. Carlos)
• Kansas (Phil Ehart, John Elefante, Rich Williams)
• Pablo Cruise (David Jenkins, Cory Lerios)
• Louisiana's LeRoux (Leon Medica)
• Doobie Brothers (Pat Simmons)

To better relate with the audience, the group needed a military-sounding name to hit the road with and "First Airborne Rock 'N Roll Division" was bestowed by the USO. In late March of 1984 they were given a big press shindig and sendoff party at USO World Headquarters in DC.

After a dress rehearsal for troops on the Big Island of Hawaii (Pohakuloa Training Area in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park), the band loaded its gear onto a chartered airliner bound for Okinawa.

A week prior, my radio section boss at FEN-Okinawa, Marine SSgt. Don Long, tells me to come see him after I finish my morning radio show. Thinking I must've torqued-off someone with one of my ad-libs on air, I headed for his desk.

When I get there, he tosses me a thick sheaf of paper. It was a press and background info kit from the USO.

"Guess what?" Don said. "You and your partner (my show sidekick, Marine LCpl. Chuck Little) get to play 'Entertainment Tonight' reporters on the radio while they're here."

Armed with the info, Chuck and I created a series of radio spots promoting the band's arrival. The theme was "They're coming to take the island by storm!" Posters were distributed by the local USOs and there was major buzz on the island -- and we at FEN would be covering it.

Arrival day came, and Chuck and myself, along with our overnight FM rock show host Marine Sgt. Norma Robertson, met the band at Naha International Airport. After exchanging pleasantries, Rick Nielsen hooked us up with their tour manager from USO HQ, Mike McCarthy; and Bobby (I can't recall his last name), the chief sound tech for Kansas who was in charge of all sound mixing for the shows. Mike was my liaison with the band during their Okinawa stay. Helluva nice guy and I learned a few things about the music biz through him.

Since the Marines would be hosting the band in their VIP billeting, the local command sent-along two MPs in civ-clothes TAD status as band security. Let's just say that they were "packing heat." They weren't taking any chances of their guests getting mauled or attacked by an over-zealous fan.

Due to a few days of crummy, wet weather, First Airborne played almost every Marine base theater and gym on the island. "Controlled mayhem" was a good way to describe it. The GIs and milbrat teens were mobbing the shows wherever they performed -- and where the base fire marshall said they could go to capacity. But unlike civ concerts, they were all pretty well-behaved. It also helped that MPs were always in plain sight at the foot of every stage.

There was no warm-up act, they just fired up the stage lights and played to a very appreciative crowd that would've normally been charged $20 a seat for the show. The song list they performed was a "greatest hits" collection from each band.

Some of the song list:
- Don't Wanna Live Without It (Pablo Cruise)
- Surrender (Cheap Trick)
- Black Water (Doobie Brothers)
- Dust In The Wind (Kansas)
- I Want You To Want Me (Cheap Trick)
- New Orleans Ladies (Louisiana's LeRoux)
- Fight Fire With Fire (Kansas)
- So Wrong (Pat Simmons)
- Long Train Runnin' (Doobie Brothers)
- Nobody Said It Was Easy (Lookin' For The Lights) (Louisiana's LeRoux)
- Carry On, Wayward Son (Kansas)
- Love Will Find A Way (Pablo Cruise)

At the time of the tour, Kansas, LeRoux, Pat Simmons and Cheap Trick already had singles airing on AFRTS stations and back Stateside ("Fight Fire With Fire," "Last Safe Place," "So Wrong" and "She's Tight", respectively).

One of the highlights of the show was (then-former Doobie Brother) Pat Simmons taking the stage solo with a short acoustic set, capping it with the Doobies' hit, "Black Water." With Rich Williams of Kansas backing him on fiddle, Pat started to sing the opening lines of the tune when the audience just started to sing along and aloud with him. "You know the words," he told the crowd, "I'll just play." He even swapped out a line in the song lyrics with: "O black water/Keep on rollin'/Okinawa moon wont'cha keep on shinin' on me?" Crowd went crazy...

And every show would close with the great Cheap Trick rocker jam, "Ain't That A Shame" -- with every performer taking a solo.

After the lights came back up and the band takes a short breather backstage, the USO volunteers set up tables for pictures, handshakes and autographs with every bandmember. Really nice guys -- all of 'em.

Chuck, Norma and myself hung out with the band before and after the shows, watched the gig from backstage, got interviews with GIs in the audience, voice drop-ins for shows (like "Hi, this is Cory Lerios from Pablo Cruise and you're tuned to F-E-N MusicRadio 6-4-8!"), even got a few of the guys together to tape a special two hour stereo show for our FM side.

After Okinawa, the First Airborne invaded the Philippines (Subic, Clark and San Miguel), Diego Garcia, Korea and did a few shows aboard carriers in the I-O.

Yeah. A once-in-a-lifetime gig. Gotta love being a Journalist.

Some snaps from my archive of the 1984 First Airborne Tour on Okinawa.

Kansas' John Elefante (lead singer) gets the crowd to sing-along with him to "Carry On, Wayward Son" with Rich Williams (guitar) at the Camp Foster Fieldhouse, Okinawa. Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos (drums) can be seen in the background.

The USO's First Airborne Rock 'N Roll Division takes the stage at MCAS Futenma Theater.

Leon Medica (bassist/songwriter, Louisiana's LeRoux) and yours truly, backstage after-show party, Camp Foster Fieldhouse. Leon penned LeRoux's hits "New Orleans Ladies," "Nobody Said It Was Easy (Lookin' For The Lights)" and "Last Safe Place." He stayed on for the First Airborne's 1985 and 1987 deployments, and was USO tour manager for Randy Travis and Patty Loveless.

Cheap Trick drummer, Bun E. Carlos (aka Brad Carlson), shows off his newly-acquired Marine staff sergeant collar devices, given to him by the guy standing next to him, a Marine MP assigned as band security. Side note: Bun E.'s dad was a Seabee on Okinawa during WWII. After-show party, Camp Foster Fieldhouse.

Yours truly with Kansas' lead singer John Elefante and my radio sidekick, LCpl. Chuck Little at the First Airborne's after-show party. You can see the face of Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen behind Chuck. Camp Foster Fieldhouse.

Robin Zander (Cheap Trick) cues Leon Medica (Louisiana's LeRoux) for his solo during the house-rockin' finale of Cheap Trick's "Ain't That A Shame." Also on-stage are David Jenkins (Pablo Cruise) and Pat Simmons (Doobie Brothers). Camp Foster Fieldhouse. ]]> Okinawa TWSEditor http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15172 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15171&goto=newpost Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:05:43 GMT ...the Far East Network (FEN). Some shots in my personal archive I wanted to share... Image:... ...the Far East Network (FEN).

Some shots in my personal archive I wanted to share...

Staff announcer Marine GySgt. Frank Segretto with our FEN-Okinawa Radio Roadshow van -- a converted camper trailer with a fully-equipped mobile broadcast booth (two turntables, 3 cart machines, 8-channel RCA mono mixer) and lounge on the inside -- complete with a dorm-sized fridge!

1972 Sukiran Country Fair, Stilwell Fieldhouse, Camp Sukiran, Okinawa

The things I'll do for my station... That's me in the bunny suit being interviewed by staff announcer Marine Sgt. Bob Wiley at the annual US Naval Hospital Camp Lester kids Easter egg hunt, sponsored by the USO & Marine Corps Special Services (forebearer to today's Marine Corps Community Services)

1983 USNH Camp Lester, Okinawa

My "office" during my tour at FEN-Okinawa. Studio A, AM 648. Note the RCA 77-DX mic (love the sound), Koss Pro-4A headset, the Ampex A-440 remotes, Gates-Harris turntable, RCA mixer board...and VINYL records! Not seen in this shot: Spotmaster single & 5-spot decks on the right.

1982 FEN-Okinawa studios, Bldg. 4236 Rycom Plaza, Okinawa

A view of our studio's building sign. No flashy logos, just who we are and what we do. Even though we were an Air Force organization, we were staffed by some talented Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and local Okinawan employees. "OLAA" is USAF-speak for "Operating Location 'A'", as we answered to network headquarters in Tokyo at Yokota Air Base.

1974 FEN-Okinawa studios, Bldg. 4236 Rycom Plaza, Okinawa

TV-8 Newswatch on-air announcers, 1981. From left: Weathercaster AF SSgt. Mike Nardi (20th Weather Squadron); co-anchors MC Cpl. Wendy McCort, and AF SSgt. Randy Ashurst. ]]> Okinawa TWSEditor http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15171 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15160&goto=newpost Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:23:33 GMT Hi, Noticed a couple of MPs filiming cars going into the commissary gate tonight. Was wondering what that was about? Maybe something related to the... Hi,
Noticed a couple of MPs filiming cars going into the commissary gate tonight. Was wondering what that was about? Maybe something related to the shooting in America? ]]> Okinawa spike7165 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15160 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15116&goto=newpost Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:19:29 GMT Is in Okinawa today. There will be peace in the air, no one will think bad thoughts and....... and....... and......... aw forget about it, I gotta go... Is in Okinawa today. There will be peace in the air, no one will think bad thoughts and....... and....... and......... aw forget about it, I gotta go take a crap. ]]> Okinawa DJ Tak http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15116