Weeks ago, I received a forwarded email. It was originally sent to the volunteer coordinator at the National Infantry Museum. Designed to be passed along, it was a request for locals to come and participate in the filming of a music video that would be using the NIM as background.What the singer/songwriter was hoping for: that people who had family members, friends, loved ones who were/are service members would come, with photos of those veterans. He would include the faces of the attendees, along with the photos of the veterans in the video, partially filmed at the NIM, and release the completed video July 4.
I told friend PC about it, as she served in the Army, and I thought she had family members who were veterans. She had a photo of her dad, and one of herself as well, from her service time years ago. I took a photo of my dad, taken when he was in the Army, and I was not yet a gleam in his eye. (And thought about taking a line drawing of my dad's great grandad who was a sniper for the Confederate States of America, but did not want to rile anyone and have to re-fight that war!) We took our little framed photos, and drove down to the NIM one afternoon a couple of weeks ago, prepared to become famous. As we should have expected, the guys doing the video were not especially organized, and seemed to be doing the whole thing by the seat of their collective pants.
It started to rain, so they quickly pulled 'plan B' out of thin air. There must have been at least 75 people who showed up: couples, children, whole families of adult children, with siblings and kids, elders - a whole bus load of gray hairs from a retirement center, with their framed loved ones, ready to display. We were to line the walkway leading up to the rotunda, on both sides of the wide sidewalk, up to the larger-than-life Iron Mike sculpture mounted on a fifteen foot high marble pedestal. It started raining, so we adjourned inside. Making a path leading up towards where the singer of the song would stand at the entrance to the 'Last Hundred Yards' exhibit in the lobby of the museum.
The guy with the camera, mounted on what looked like an auto. steering wheel, did several takes and it was over. He had someone push him down our 'alley' way of friends and relatives in a wheel chair, to make the video smoothly proceed toward the singer, Tim Maggert, who did not actually sing, but maybe mouthed the words as he was strumming.
I assume the song has something to do with service, patriotism, Army life. The singer is a former Army medic, who now lives in the area and works for a home health service. He wrote and performs the song - but I have no more info. about the music. My friend PC went to see the screening, that was scheduled to premier on Independence Day at the NIM, reported we are only noticeable if you know when/where to look, and you have to 'look fast'.
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