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<!-- #thumb --> <p>This is the final chapter in the long story about my friend <a title="Giorgio Moroder" href="http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/giorgio-moroder/12030/">Giorgio Moroder</a>. *We had finished recording the Germersheim rock festival, returned to the network headquarters in Frankfurt with many hours of tape. *The quality of that tape wasn’t great and the German engineers had rejected it for network play. *On my way out of the building I let my friend, newscaster Milt Fullerton, in on my little secret about having long hair, disguising it under a short hair wig, and Milt immediately went to the commanding officer of AFN and ratted me out.</p>
<p>It was Tuesday, May 23, 1972 the day I returned from the festival and got back to Munich. *Hot on my agenda was finding a place to build a new recording studio with Giorgio Moroder. *Terri and I had looked at quite a few places but on that very day, found exactly what we were looking for. *A beautiful large home in the Munich suburbs with a large garden and, most important of all, a big basement where we could build a studio. *The landlord had no problem with us running a business out of the place. *We grabbed Giorgio and Pete Bellotti to take a look. *They loved it and Terri and I signed a 5 year lease with the owner. *Things were moving along nicely. *Construction on the new studio could begin immediately. *I would be released from the Army within 30 days.</p>
<p>The following Monday I was surprised to see AFN’s commanding officer in the building. *I was the morning DJ, responsible for a program called the Dawn Patrol, and if you’re interested, you can
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<p> to hear a very tiny segment of my saying goodbye to listeners to that program. *I am only on about the last 5 seconds of this clip.</p>
<p>When I got out of the studio that morning, there was a lot of activity around the Colonel’s visit and I was surprised when I was told to go report to him in the office (kind of like going to see the assistant principal at school). *This wasn’t good, no doubt, and my heart was in my mouth as I stood before the colonel, Neil Fontaine the station manager and the German secretary from the front office taking notes. *I was standing at attention after having saluted the colonel and he spoke.</p>
<p>“Take off the wig”. *Uh, oh. *That was the last thing I thought I would hear. *I slowly reached up and took off my short hair wig. *Underneath the wig was my real and longish hair, bobby pinned up like a girl.</p>
<p>“You look like an idiot.” *I felt like an idiot. *”You have been a pain in the side of the army for several years now. *We’ve tolerated your shenanigans because you’re a good announcer. *But now it’s over. *You have 6 months left in the service and that gives me the right to try and fix your attitude for your own good.”</p>
<p>“Sir, respectively, I am scheduled to be released in a few days here in Germany.”</p>
<p>“Yes, I know. *I’ve rescinded that order and you are to be transferred to Fort Benning Georgia immediately. *There you will serve out the rest of your time in the hopes we can turn you into a good soldier. *I really should put you in the brig but I think this may be worse.”</p>
<p>Panic set in. *This man had absolute control over my life. *I had just signed a 5 year lease on a home, a handshake agreement with Giorgio Moroder and this was intolerable. *”Sir, if you don’t let me out as agreed I will burn down this network.”</p>
<p>“Son, I am going to give you one more chance. *For your own good I have contacted the commanding officer in Fort Benning and asked him to make sure your life is a living hell. *You’re not going to burn down anything. *Your ass will be on an airplane tomorrow morning at 0600 hours and we are done. *Dismissed.”</p>
<p>And true to his word, my ass was on a plane leaving from Frankfurt the next morning. *My personal effects were scooped up by a moving company and unceremoniously delivered to Columbus Georgia in a large box. *The tapes were all there, the mixing console and other electronics stayed a part of AFN, gone forever. *I never had a chance to say goodbye to anyone, I was just gone, my hopes and dreams of a recording studio and a life with musicians dashed. *Terri has never forgiven me for blowing the gig.</p>
<p>The army is a big organization and manages to shoot itself in the foot on a routine basis. *Upon arrival in Georgia’s Fort Benning I reported to my new commanding officer. *He looked at my records and said “I see here you’re a 71B (radio announcer). *Odd they sent you here with only 6 months to go. *The only job in your field is at the hospital radio station. *I will assign you there, you have one person under your command.” *Command? *They were putting me in charge of a radio station? *This was my living hell?</p>
<p>I arrived at the hospital radio station, located in the basement of the Fort Benning hospital. *It was affectionately known as the “Bedpan network”. *The soldier I was in “charge of” was named Lou and he was a private who was attempting to get out of the army as a conscientious*objector. *Needless to say, we got along just fine. *The station consisted of 12 AM radio tuners, allowing the hospital patients to select from one of the 12 stations using their pillow speakers. *There was nothing to do. *Our only job was to make sure the tuners were working each morning.</p>
<p>I quickly learned that the sergeant in charge checked on us once a week, on Friday, at 3pm. *No one knew or cared we were there otherwise and most of the time we weren’t.</p>
<p>I went through official channels to get permission to work as a DJ at night, after hours, and was denied. *undeterred*as usual, that only prompted me to simply change my air name from Paul McGowan to Christopher Robin, take the job at local radio station*WCLS in Columbus and became one of the more popular DJ’s – one the army sergeants who told me I could not take the job liked. *It was somewhat surrealistic to check into the day room in the morning with the very sergeant that denied me permission to work – and hear him talking about the new DJ in town that made them laugh. *The new DJ’s name was Christopher Robin. *Had I ever listened to his program?</p>
<p>Life is as interesting as you make it. *All the tapes of the concert, all my interviews with the rock stars, a few 16 track 2 inch masters from Giorgio’s studio are all sitting in a box decaying over time. *It’s on my list to go through those and share them with the world, if only I had the time and equipment.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading.</p>
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[Source: http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/tales/12087/]
<p>It was Tuesday, May 23, 1972 the day I returned from the festival and got back to Munich. *Hot on my agenda was finding a place to build a new recording studio with Giorgio Moroder. *Terri and I had looked at quite a few places but on that very day, found exactly what we were looking for. *A beautiful large home in the Munich suburbs with a large garden and, most important of all, a big basement where we could build a studio. *The landlord had no problem with us running a business out of the place. *We grabbed Giorgio and Pete Bellotti to take a look. *They loved it and Terri and I signed a 5 year lease with the owner. *Things were moving along nicely. *Construction on the new studio could begin immediately. *I would be released from the Army within 30 days.</p>
<p>The following Monday I was surprised to see AFN’s commanding officer in the building. *I was the morning DJ, responsible for a program called the Dawn Patrol, and if you’re interested, you can
</p><p class="audioplayer_container"><span id="audioplayer_1">Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version <a href="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&promoid=BIOW" title="Download Adobe Flash Player">here</a>. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.</span></p>
<p> to hear a very tiny segment of my saying goodbye to listeners to that program. *I am only on about the last 5 seconds of this clip.</p>
<p>When I got out of the studio that morning, there was a lot of activity around the Colonel’s visit and I was surprised when I was told to go report to him in the office (kind of like going to see the assistant principal at school). *This wasn’t good, no doubt, and my heart was in my mouth as I stood before the colonel, Neil Fontaine the station manager and the German secretary from the front office taking notes. *I was standing at attention after having saluted the colonel and he spoke.</p>
<p>“Take off the wig”. *Uh, oh. *That was the last thing I thought I would hear. *I slowly reached up and took off my short hair wig. *Underneath the wig was my real and longish hair, bobby pinned up like a girl.</p>
<p>“You look like an idiot.” *I felt like an idiot. *”You have been a pain in the side of the army for several years now. *We’ve tolerated your shenanigans because you’re a good announcer. *But now it’s over. *You have 6 months left in the service and that gives me the right to try and fix your attitude for your own good.”</p>
<p>“Sir, respectively, I am scheduled to be released in a few days here in Germany.”</p>
<p>“Yes, I know. *I’ve rescinded that order and you are to be transferred to Fort Benning Georgia immediately. *There you will serve out the rest of your time in the hopes we can turn you into a good soldier. *I really should put you in the brig but I think this may be worse.”</p>
<p>Panic set in. *This man had absolute control over my life. *I had just signed a 5 year lease on a home, a handshake agreement with Giorgio Moroder and this was intolerable. *”Sir, if you don’t let me out as agreed I will burn down this network.”</p>
<p>“Son, I am going to give you one more chance. *For your own good I have contacted the commanding officer in Fort Benning and asked him to make sure your life is a living hell. *You’re not going to burn down anything. *Your ass will be on an airplane tomorrow morning at 0600 hours and we are done. *Dismissed.”</p>
<p>And true to his word, my ass was on a plane leaving from Frankfurt the next morning. *My personal effects were scooped up by a moving company and unceremoniously delivered to Columbus Georgia in a large box. *The tapes were all there, the mixing console and other electronics stayed a part of AFN, gone forever. *I never had a chance to say goodbye to anyone, I was just gone, my hopes and dreams of a recording studio and a life with musicians dashed. *Terri has never forgiven me for blowing the gig.</p>
<p>The army is a big organization and manages to shoot itself in the foot on a routine basis. *Upon arrival in Georgia’s Fort Benning I reported to my new commanding officer. *He looked at my records and said “I see here you’re a 71B (radio announcer). *Odd they sent you here with only 6 months to go. *The only job in your field is at the hospital radio station. *I will assign you there, you have one person under your command.” *Command? *They were putting me in charge of a radio station? *This was my living hell?</p>
<p>I arrived at the hospital radio station, located in the basement of the Fort Benning hospital. *It was affectionately known as the “Bedpan network”. *The soldier I was in “charge of” was named Lou and he was a private who was attempting to get out of the army as a conscientious*objector. *Needless to say, we got along just fine. *The station consisted of 12 AM radio tuners, allowing the hospital patients to select from one of the 12 stations using their pillow speakers. *There was nothing to do. *Our only job was to make sure the tuners were working each morning.</p>
<p>I quickly learned that the sergeant in charge checked on us once a week, on Friday, at 3pm. *No one knew or cared we were there otherwise and most of the time we weren’t.</p>
<p>I went through official channels to get permission to work as a DJ at night, after hours, and was denied. *undeterred*as usual, that only prompted me to simply change my air name from Paul McGowan to Christopher Robin, take the job at local radio station*WCLS in Columbus and became one of the more popular DJ’s – one the army sergeants who told me I could not take the job liked. *It was somewhat surrealistic to check into the day room in the morning with the very sergeant that denied me permission to work – and hear him talking about the new DJ in town that made them laugh. *The new DJ’s name was Christopher Robin. *Had I ever listened to his program?</p>
<p>Life is as interesting as you make it. *All the tapes of the concert, all my interviews with the rock stars, a few 16 track 2 inch masters from Giorgio’s studio are all sitting in a box decaying over time. *It’s on my list to go through those and share them with the world, if only I had the time and equipment.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading.</p>
<center><a href="http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/tales/12087/emailpopup/" onclick="email_popup(this.href); return false;" title="Forward to a friend and help us engage more readers" rel="nofollow"><img class="WP-EmailIcon" src="http://www.pstracks.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-email/images/email.gif" alt="email Tales end" title="Tales end" /></a>*<a href="http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/tales/12087/emailpopup/" onclick="email_popup(this.href); return false;" title="Forward to a friend and help us engage more readers" rel="nofollow">Forward to a friend and help us engage more readers</a></center><br /><!-- // MAILCHIMP SUBSCRIBE CODE --><center><a href="http://eepurl.com/eSzBY">Get new and fresh stories like this each morning by joining the folks reading Paul's Posts. Click here </a></center>
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[Source: http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/tales/12087/]