The Kwaj Kat Blog

After quite a long time of thinking about it, I finally motivated myself last week and sent off what amounts to the bulk of my slide collection from Kwaj to have professionally processed into digital format. Those pictures are now back and I just finished uploading 89 new images to the photo gallery. Unfortunately, many people who have already looked through the collection of Kwaj photos I have online will be disappointed to discover that this new batch includes a lot of duplication. For some reason I felt compelled to take many of the same pictures again that I’d already taken in black-and-white, just using color slide film this time. Anyway, they’re generally better quality than the others so I posted them again, especially since they’re in color. For now they’re in a separate album to make them easier to review, but eventually I’ll merge them with the other albums so that they’re grouped properly.

Since my first post in May 2006 I have shared as many key recollections from my Kwaj days as I can pull from the recesses of my mind, but one remains that has yet to be penned. I think it’s finally time to relate my experiences from being in Miss Beck’s band program. Read the rest of this entry »

I think sometimes my family is somewhat dismayed and confused with my interest in World War II. I can often be found watching shows on the History Channel or the Military Channel pertaining to WWII, especially if it involves the war in the Pacific. Had I not spent 3 years on Kwaj as a young boy, I doubt that I’d be so interested. Read the rest of this entry »

A small blurb in a recent issue of Time mentioned that Casey Kasem officially retired from his involvement in doing the Weekly Top 40 on July 4. In line with my recent theme of passing icons, this is another one to add to the list. In this case, Kasem is still with us and will no doubt pop up on the grid from time to time, but knowing that his years of entertaining us with what’s new and hot on the music scene are over leaves me nostalgic for my years on Kwaj when I was first introduced to him. While he was doing that long before the mid-70s, I didn’t spend much time listening to the radio before we moved to Kwaj. Once on Kwaj we tended to play the radio more than we had at home since we didn’t have TV, and it was during that time when I first began to listen to his Weekly Top 40 program that aired on AFRS every Sunday. Recently a local Huntsville radio station has been rerunning some of his shows from the 70s and 80s, and hearing some of those really takes me back to the Kwaj days. I don’t listen to current top 40 programs anymore so my daily routine won’t be affected by Kasem’s retirement, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling somewhat melancholy knowing that he’s no longer in the business. Enjoy retirement, Casey, and thanks.

Seems like a lot of my recent posts have been about lost icons from the Kwaj era, and I guess it’s inevitable that some things pass into history as we move steadily into the future. In reading the July 6 edition of Time magazine I was reminded of yet another passing that I’m sorry to see that again directly ties to my time on Kwaj. After 74 years, Kodak has finally retired Kodachrome. Read the rest of this entry »

I saw the news over the weekend that broadcaster Paul Harvey passed away. My first real exposure to Paul Harvey was on Kwaj listening to AFRS air his popular show “The Rest of the Story” and his news features. Years later I would still hear Paul from time to time on local Huntsville radio stations, but I didn’t go out of my way to always tune in. I knew all along that a day would come when I might regret not listening to more of his shows, and I guess that day finally came. In any case, Paul Harvey is another icon that I associate with Kwaj and that is now gone. Time marches on.

This announcement went out on my Kwaj Friends mailing list, but in case I missed some folks who periodically check this blog and aren’t on the mailing list, you may want to know that a new set of Kwaj photos are now online. These photos are from Kevin Koppenhaver’s trip to Kwaj in the summer of 2008, graciously shared with me in order to post them on the website so others can enjoy them as well. I’m indebted to Kevin for taking valuable time during his trip to capture these recent images of Kwaj. I had to create a new photo gallery for them since I’m having trouble adding new material to my old gallery. The new gallery currently contains Kevin’s 2008 pictures as well as 100+ snapshots from John Perkins of his time on Kwaj. John sent them to me months ago and I’m just now getting them online. Over time I plan to migrate my collection to the new gallery, but for now I’ll keep them both online. Links to both are on the main website. Enjoy these new submissions, and thank again to Kevin and John for sharing them with everyone!

I didn’t realize until visiting the Smith Family Kwaj website (refer to my preceding post) that Google Maps has satellite images of our beloved island. I posted this link on the Kwaj Kat website but also wanted to call attention to it here. Have fun taking a virtual aerial tour of the island!

Jeanne shared a web link with me today that is worth checking out. The Smith Family from Boston arrived on Kwaj last fall and has a website with photos, video, and a blog documenting their current Kwaj experience. I found the photos particularly interesting since they show a current view of Kwaj that is somewhat familiar, but also foreign. I highly recommend it.

Got a note from Kevin Koppenhaver this week informing me that he will soon embark on a long-awaited trip back to Kwaj after being absent for 24 years. He foolishly offered to take some photos for me, so I quickly loaded him up with requests. His trip will have him on island for around 2 weeks, followed by some time in Hawaii visiting with family. I’m eagerly awaiting the photos and/or video he has time to generate while he’s there, and will devote a special area of the photo gallery to it. I also still have John Perkins’ old photos to organize and post, along with my slides that have yet to be processed into digital format. Anyway, we should soon see some new material on the gallery, and maybe I can talk Kevin into posting his thoughts about being on Kwaj after all this time.