myrtle beach TV blog
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Myrtle Beach TV series on FOX
Life on the Grand Strand
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*While the myrtle beach TV blog is not a blog by technical standards, it is the producers' comments, photos, feelings and thoughts as the series progresses. True local blogs are listed to the bottom left.

On location at Crab Catchers waterfront restaurant in Little River

July 4, 2008 -- The busiest touirst weekend of the year is just getting started, so earlier in the week, to avoid the inevitable crowds and waiting lines, we headed down to the historic waterfront in Little River to enjoy breath-taking views of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway as well as some of the tastiest local shrimp money can buy.

Crab Catchers on the waterfront in Little River is one of those local places you hope never changes hands again. It's been many things over the years, including Donnie Mintz's market, Wayne Henderson's seafood market where a large, live clam vat once held the tasty staples, my sister and brother-in-law's first Long's Seafood market, and now Crab Catchers.

The deck is one of our favorite places, and the grilled shrimp is to die for.

If you go: At the historic waterfront in Little River: 4474 Water Front Avenue; 843-280-2025 (although we don't recommend calling -- they're usually very busy and not usually able to spend much time on the phone).

Grand Strand Junior Womens Club at CASA fundraiser event

the myrtle beach TV blog*

That "small town" feeling gets me now and again

April 20, 2008 -- Every now and again, I'm reminded just how small our community really is.

I had one such reminder last night at - of all places - Celebrity Square - at Broadway at the Beach.

We spent yesterday afternoon at the inaugurual Create South conference at the Myrtle Beach train depot, discussing podcasting, blogging, online video and social networking with other like-minded individuals.

Afterwards, many of the conference attendees headed to Surfside Beach to catch the evening's performance by the Sick Stooges, a local classic rock band we've had on the show several times, including for a recent fundraiser. Unfortunately, we weren't able to go with the other conference attendees as we'd already committed ourselves to covering the annual Victory Over Violence auction held by the Grand Strand Junior Women's Club to benefit CASA at Revolutions at Broadway at the Beach.

At the CASA fundraiser we ran into Greg Rowles, a great guy and friend of ours, who graciously offered to emcee the event, and his lovely wife Brandee.

Neculai Family at Broadway at the Beach Before the auction started, we decided to take a quick stroll outside from the entrance of Revolutions to the Celebrity Square sign. As soon as we walked outside, we ran into Cleve Morris from Black Label band, who was setting up at Blarney Stones across the way for a 9:30pm gig. We hadn't talked to him for quite a while, and had a chance to catch up on the changes in his band since the last two times we recorded them for our show last summer and fall.

While we were catching up and shooting the breeze, two of the Sanson brothers walked up, from the Sanson Brothers Band, who we hadn't had a chance to talk with since we had them on the show at HB Spokes the night before it burned to the ground! They were also setting up for a 9:30pm gig next door at the House of Blues.

After catching up with them, we ran over to Crocodile Rocks to take a few photos and ran into Antonel Neculai, who was out enjoying the comfortable temperatures with his wife and son. Antonel, the MIS/Database Manager for the North Myrtle Beach Chamber, is one of the nicest guys around, and was on episode #19 of the show last summer.

Back at Revolutions, we took a few final shots, and after donating some extra money to CASA, headed home feeling happy, healthy, and connected to the community where we live.

What the heck is going on in Little River?

April 12, 2008 -- A few days ago we attended the first town hall meeting about possibly incorporating the historic fishing village of Little River, South Carolina, which is where we happen to hang our hats at night.

What we felt occurred at this first meeting, and perceived others felt, was mostly confusion at this first meeting.

To avoid this in the future, we think before the next meeting each of the committee members who is behind this incorporation attempt should publicly identify himself or herself, state how long he or she has lived in Little River, state why he or she is doing this, say if he or she has plans on being employed in the new corporation, should it successfully pass, and provide contact information so residents can reach him or her for questions.

We think many questions need answered.

But we believe that 99.9% of this involves casino boat money and waterway property.

And since we live one block off the waterway, in walking distance from the historic waterfront, where the twice daily, 60mph traffic traverses our 30mph residential roads, endangers our family, and has killed several pets, we've taken a real interest in this.

So a few key questions should be answered right way, by each person spearheading these efforts, such as:
  • If you had a vote, would you keep, tax, charge a per person fee, or ban the casino boats at the waterfront?
  • If you had a vote, would you raise, lower, or keep the 60-foot/180-foot PUD height caps voted in place by county council?
  • Are you or a family member part of a corporation or LLC that has ownership in any property at the Little River waterfront or along the Intracoastal Waterway in Little River?
Furthermore, what are the benefits, guys and gals, of incorporating? We've heard the control your own destiny speech. That's not tangible enough with higher taxes for every property owner. There would be no city-provided water or trash service, the property and business license taxes go up, so what are the benefits?

We didn't witness a well-planned presentation, in our opinion.

As we've managed LittleRiverSC.com for many years, we've had people contact us asking for more information about this incorporation effort.

Since we know so little ourselves, and the ad hoc committee doesn't have a web site or public message board for residents to voice their opinions, we're going to provide a forum at LittleRiverChat.com beginning this week.

We're setting up the message board, where all Little River residents can register, post messages, ask questions, and voice concerns about the effort to incorporate our town.

The forum welcomes both those for and against incorporation and will strive to be a place for residents to publicly hash out the issues surrounding incorporation.

Hopefully Here to Stay

March 9, 2008 -- Yesterday we attended the North Myrtle Beach Chambers' introduction of the new president, Marc Jordan, and had a chance to talk with him and a few others who braved the rain to hear him utter his first words at a local public podium.

I have to say, I liked him instantly.

Watch the interview with Marc Jordan, NMB Chamber President.

Egads, this is upsetting

January 23, 2008 -- I just returned from a multi-city business trip with stays in Vegas, San Jose, and Los Angeles. After landing and taking off again through smog, I was happy to return to what I previously perceived as my clean town along the east coast. What a rude awakening!

Take a close look at these stats: Chemical Hazards that place us in the top 10% of counties for cancer risk in the United States!

Visitors come and go, but we're here living (albeit cancer-prone) with these statistics.

Change of Plans

January 3, 2008 -- Well, plans are made to change, right? That's exactly what happened with our "2-show broadcast" on FOX this week and next. We will not be airing on FOX this week or next, or again in the future unless we announce another change! We apologize to those of you who DVR'd us and watched the infommercial that FOX aired in our place!

One 2008 resolution we're going to stick to:
Since the show is produced entirely in hi-def, we're not going to go through the trouble and expense of airing on broadcast television again until a station can actually air our show in hi-def!

We're back on FOX January 4th

January 2, 2008 -- Happy New Year to you and yours! The holidays flew right by us, but we did manage to get a lot done around the house and yard. We also returned to the studio for two more episodes of the show, #25 & #26, which will be airing on FOX January 4th & 11th, respectively.

After these two episodes, we morph into a weekly webcast show here on this site. We'll have much more leeway on what we want to produce (no broadcast restrictions) and we'll have more free time to shoot, since we won't have to get the show "broadcast ready" each week.

Hiatus, best friend's passing, long-awaited cruise

December 22, 2007 -- With the show on a short hiatus from weekly production (we *really* needed a break, putting in over 100 hours each to accomplish the shoots, edits, and broadcast specs for airing every Friday on FOX.

We've gotten little actual rest, though. Instead, after a short cruise to Key West, Mexico, and a private island in the Caribbean, we decided to handle the long overdue jobs of cleaning up the house and yard.

One reason for all the physical work is that it's therapeutic. One of Marcia's best friends passed away very suddenly in early December. So if you see her out in public and she bursts into tears for no reason, she's likely thinking of her friend and missing her.

The Jenerette debacle

The local headlines currently show a few local politicians charged with some pretty nasty crimes, but one in particular seems to sink below the others. The case of Van Jenerette, accused of molesting his underage step-daughter decades ago, has simply been shocking for most locals to read. Innocent until proven guilty, we know. But some of the published stuff (above and beyond the step-daughter's blog) appears pretty damning. One thing I find really hard to believe is that a grown women would ever fabricate sexual abuse by her step-father.

So when does off-season start?

The parking garage under construction at The Market Common on the old Airforce Base in Myrtle Beach
October 20, 2007 -- Geesh, things have changed in recent years, but with taping events around the strand, we're really feeling it this year in particular.

It doesn't seem like it's Fall (other than it's cooler out) because there're still lots of traffic jams, plenty of festivals, benefits, local-get-togethers and events going on every week.

I've had little time to write anything because we spend so much time traveling to shoots and shooting that the few precious hours I have in front of the computers I'm editing the show. One day I'll have time again... maybe!

On the other hand, it's a good thing I don't have any free time -- because the death of my beloved Precious still saddens me to the point of tears every single day. I'm just getting better at hiding it from others as each day passes.

Lunch today: exceptionally fun with exceptional people

September 16, 2007 -- We had a several-hour lunch at Bummz today with three very exceptional individuals, each in their own right, and collectively as well. Each is so enjoyable to talk with, so totally fun, so break-the-mold-no-other-like-them unique, I actually felt relief for a couple of hours from the sadness and hole in my heart over the death of Precious, which believe me isn't an easy feat right now.... such great people... You three know who you are -- and I hope someday you see this and know that we enjoyed every minute and love each of you!

Precious Walker

my beloved Precious

September 15, 2007 -- I'm trying so hard to go through the motions of stuff we've already had scheduled and have to shoot. Places we have to be, people we have to talk to...

But I do not have the energy or enthusiasm and I find it difficult to smile, without my loving Precious with me each day.

And to know that, at the young age of 2, he was brutally killed by a speeding car, only makes my heart ache that much more.


Update on HB Spokes & upcoming bike week

September 11, 2007 -- Larry Fowler, owner of the popular local club HB Spokes, told us he would be open for Fall Bike Week, or The Pilgrimage, by using outdoor bars and tents.

The bar was destroyed in an early morning fire on September 10th, just a few weeks before the highly anticipated Fall event.

We're going to pitch in and help him in any way we can, and we're sure he could use as much help as possible from all friends and previous customers that would like to help out.

Their website is up and running, and you may contact them by clicking here.


Travis Newman of EASON at The Boathouse in Myrtle Beach

Last week-end of the summer season

August 26, 2007 -- Yep, with college starting back this week, the summer's about over, or at least the summer tourist season.

What we'll probably miss most is that clubs either stop or severely slim the amount of live bands playing.

Understandable, since you have to have gobs of people to cover the overhead. But we'll miss the number of clubs that offer live music just the same. There'll still be clubs with live local bands, usually only on the week-ends, so we're looking forward to hearing more great local bands in the months ahead.

For those venues that stay open and the bands that perform in the cooler months ahead, and to lesser crowds, we'll probably get the best footage -- more freedom to move with the cameras. So either way, we're happy campers.


Idols, friends and behind the scenes

carolina idol finals at karma teen nightclub in downtown myrtle beach August 5, 2007 -- Yesterday was a busy day for us, shooting a behind the scenes of the carolina idol finals at karma nightclub in downtown myrtle beach. the few hours spent there reminded us why, even though our home and studio is on the north end, we feel at home anywhere in the myrtle beach area.

ccc, allison floyd and daughter, susan and donny trexler at plyer park in downtown myrtle beachWhile shooting on the balcony of Karma (which incidently has the best ocean view from the strip!) I noticed across the street susan and donny trexler setting up to perform in plyer park.

So in between takes i ran over there to say hello and catch up.

Susan had agreed a while back to be one of our hosts on the show, although we haven't been able to coordinate schedules to actually shoot with her yet. soon, we both promised each other! allison floyd of wpde and her daughter arrived to shoot a live feed, and while she waited for the camera crew to arrive, we women talked about the trials of raising our kids.

henry at nightmare haunted houseLess than a block away, we ran into henry at nightmare haunted house, and got a quick run-down of that fun place. henry is a unique and hard-to-miss guy. all locals know henry, he's worked at hard rock and many other venues around town, and is easy to spot by the large spike piercings beneath his lower lip. we normally run into henry out eating somewhere, last time was at liberty taproom, i believe. really great guy, always fun to talk with, and we were happy to talk with him again.

stumpy or buddy, man at ripleysA few steps down from where henry works we ran into James"Buddy Man Stumpy", a friend of waterway phil... actually, stumpy probably would've run from us and the cameras, but he couldn't since he has no legs. he works directly on the boulevard with ripley's believe it or not, and is so engaging that the sidewalk fills around him and sometimes even vehicles on the street stop and respond to his shouts to "slow down", "you've got someone in your back seat!", or whatever.

willie c in downtown myrtle beachStumpy has worked with some great actors like samuel l. jackson, george c. scott, patrick ewing, and is very talented as well. we chatted about his career and about how our mutual friend, waterway phil, has been stalking him and cruising the boulevard for weeks.

As we headed back to our production truck, we saw that susan and donny had started to play at plyer park, and stopped to squeeze off a couple of shots, where we noticed willie c. was there taking video.

sean and chris at tbonzWillie c., who was in episode 1 of our show, is dedicated to capturing local beach music on video, and was once again shooting for later upload to youtube.

After being down on the strip, we headed back north to Barefoot Landing for some dinner. We decided on TBonz, always a good choice, and ran into Sean and Chris playing there again.

warren interviewing jennifer of weekly surgeSo, another working dinner evolved, and in between bites, we shot two more interviews, a testimonial from a fan in the audience, took a couple photos of girls dreamy-eyed over the two musicians, and got more footage of them playing as well. Great guys, great musicians.

On the way back up 17, started to get a wee bit tired, but since we were driving right by, we stopped in Overtime and did a "behind the scenes" and interview with Jennifer of Weekly Surge.

All in all, a loooooong day of shoots, but lots of fun, for sure.

Turning the mics on us

myrtle beach tv production truck and principle cameraman warren walkerTo start the myrtle beach TV blog, we're posting parts of an interview (that may or may not air in a future episode) where we answered questions about the show and about the weekly on-location shoots.

Q. Since you aren't trying to snag advertising dollars, why is your company doing the show?
warren: It's a labor of love, pure and simple. we both enjoy shooting and editing, especially in hi-def for broadcast and web.
marcia lynn: yep. we also believe the integration of TV and web is imminent, so we're getting a jump on that now.
warren: It's also a collaborative effort, a true coop project. our hosts and participants contribute their time and talents to the show, and we give back by highlighting their organization, both on the show and on the web.

Q. What's your favorite thing to shoot?
warren: anything and anywhere people are having fun and enjoying themselves.
marcia lynn: same here. i am thankful to be alive, love to laugh, and am most content when surrounded by those who feel similarly blessed. so it's not surprising that we're drawn to people who are good-natured and having fun.

Q. You two look like you're having tons of fun. Is there anything that's NOT fun while out shooting?
warren: having started the series in early june, and shooting throughout the summer, in the heat and humidity, hauling, setting up, and tearing down the equipment for shoots isn't that much fun.
marcia lynn: most of the time i have a lot of fun out on the shoots.

Q. Marcia Lynn, who does your hair?
marcia lynn: hahaha, very funny.
warren: she flies a guy in from pragueairport.com each week to do it.

Q. Did you really get your production truck, a converted ambulance, on ebay?
warren: yea, we really did.
marcia lynn: best investment we could've made for the show. it can power our lights, monitors, and cameras. it charges our equipment, batteries, cellphones. i've got a computer and workstation in back. we have a gps with flatscreen display warren rigged and mounted in the front that's pretty cool... if we're out late shooting a band, it's got a place for me to sleep. the air conditioner and air filters are more effective than the one in our home. i wouldn't say i'm a person who cares much for vehicles, but i'm really starting to like our production truck.

Q. What upcoming episode are you most excited about?
warren: every one is exciting for us to produce, or we wouldn't be doing this.
marcia lynn: the one that airs in our new 7:30 am time slot on fridays! maybe people can actually see the show on tv then. hahahaha.

 

 

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