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ALWAYS THE GOOD DIE YOUNG:
Death explored and a Life Celebrated
From DNARadioShow.com, May 22
Kristi Lyn Shephard would have been celebrating her 37th birthday on Saturday, May 23rd. On that day from 10 a.m. to noon (PDT), The DNA Radio Show will celebrate Kristi's life with a special live broadcast that will drive home one message: none of us is guaranteed tomorrow.
On March 21st, Kristi was anxiously looking forward to spending the day with her brother, sister-in-law and young nephews at the happiest place on earth. Disneyland was the kind of place that was in character with Kristi's personality and outlook on life. She couldn't seem to get enough of it. She spent close to nine years of her life employed at Disney's Rain Forest Cafe where she reportedly trained over 80% of the staff.
Kristi Shephard, left, and grief expert, Russell Friedman
That day, moments before she was to walk out the door to meet her brother, she was in her Anaheim apartment talking on the phone with her roommate when suddenly Shephard started slurring her words. Her roommate told her to call the paramedics. Instead she called her Mom - who would be the last person that Kristi would talk to. She was rushed to the emergency room, where 23 hours later, at 11:30 in the evening her parents asked that she be taken off life support. Kristi passed away on March 22nd.
Her father later recalled, "Kristi always had a thing for 23's. Her mother was in labor with her for 23 hours. She was born on the 23rd. Twenty-three hours after the paramedics brought her in, she died." Doctors called it a rare stroke that began with a blood clot at the base of her brain stem. This clot blocked the flow of blood to her brain.
For 10 years, I was honored to know Kristi all throughout her shy 20's. She and her family would always come over to her Uncle and Grandmother's house where I would often visit and subsequently live for several years. I fell out of touch with her and her folks in 2002 until her Uncle called me hours before she died. That week, a local comedy club that Kristi frequented preempted its evening of stand-up comics to do a tribute to her before a packed house.
A week after her passing, her family held a memorial/celebration in their Norwalk home. Several hundred attended over an eight-hour period. Sitting there in the place where she grew up, from one end of the Shephard house to the other, I could hear conversations and stories that spoke of her smile, her love, her kindness and her humor. Not to mention how much she knew about music. At the Rain Forest where she worked, she was dubbed, "Jukebox."
The Rain Forest Cafe broke precedent that day by providing enough food and an array of desserts for 600 people. At the end of the long afternoon, some of the people suggested that a homeless shelter be called and the leftover food be donated. They knew that's what Kristi would've done. If there was sadness or tears that day, you were hard pressed to find it. In fact, I heard someone say that "if Kristi ever had a bad day in her life, she never showed it to anyone." This was a woman that if she ever found a customer in the restaurant looking down, she would go over and start singing to them.
So why would radio listeners in the Inland Empire or an audience listening worldwide on the internet care about the death of a person they don't even know?
Whatever Kristi Shephard was to her family, friends and co-workers, to the rest of the world she is the very metaphor of somebody whose life and example rippled out and touched so many other lives. She's the person that reminds us of someone maybe in our own family that was taken out before their prime. She's the person that makes us ask, "Why? Why did it have to be that person?"
That question and other issues related to grief and coping with a loss will be examined in the second hour of this special May 23 show with special guest, Russell Friedman, author of "The Grief Recovery Handbook" and President of The Grief Recovery Institute in Los Angeles. For those that watch on KCAA-TV during that hour, a pictoral memorial to Kristi will be on display during Paul and my conversation with Friedman. The pictures will cover her years from childhood to present day. Your phone calls are welcomed as well.
This will be a birthday party for Kristi, and for all those that we still wish we can have a party for. For those that were close to, worked with or knew of Kristi, or even if you have a story of how you best coped with a loss, feel free to join this celebration of life.
Email Vince Daniels at Commander@DNARadioShow.com.
Old Friends Join the DNA Radio Show
From DNARadioShow.com, May 15
Well thanks to the help of my new sidekick, Paul Andrews, I made it through the first week of my revamped Saturday morning talk show. Tomorrow, I'll be back on KCAA where, as I announced on air last week, I'm "on board" for a better than two-year contract which will guarantee The DNA Radio Show the same time slot through at least June 11, 2011.
These initial three weeks of shows I believe will be among my most important. Each in their own way will present different facets of what DNA will always be for you: whether it be two hours wholly devoted to banter between Paul and I and our conversations with callers, as was the case last Saturday; or whether it be Paul and I taking on sensitive life issues where we occassionally call upon a guest - as will be the situation next week.
Jay Boatman
Then there's the show coming up tomorrow. While it's true that my co-host and myself won't be featuring anywhere near the number of guests as my old Many Moods show, we will still at times be graced by three semi-regular contributors who whether they appear individually, or all together as they will tomorrow, are part of an ensemble cast that have each proven their value to my past shows and to the KCAA listening audience.
Crista Curtis was originally brought on in April of 2006 to be my in-studio "pop culture" reporter. Jay Boatman joined me in a former venue in the fall of 2005 as my announcer. No longer bearing those unnecessary titles, they will return simply as Jay and Crista offering their personalities and punditry. Often Crista is involved in missionary activities with her church and may be away for weeks. Such will be the situation after this weekend, so enjoy her while you can. She won't return to DNA until June 27th where she promises to be on every two to three weeks thereafter.
Crista Curtis
Jay is offering his availability to the show once or twice per month, depending on family or other obligations. He hopes that he and Crista's schedules mesh in such a way that they can appear together. The two will in fact appear together when they guest host for me from time to time.
They will be my only fill-in hosts, although present plans are for me to appear every week on my show for the next 6 months. My first and only real vacation for 2009 is scheduled way off in November during Thanksgiving weekend.
Rounding out my ensemble is the only one who will indeed hold on to his title, as it is one dubbed for him by his listeners. Nick Anthony is known as an "angry black man" and his passion behind that moniker will be on display when he visits the show for better than an hour tomorrow. Curtis and Boatman will join the show from the outset at 10:06 a.m. (PDT) following the top of the hour news anchored by KCAA's Fred Brown. Nick will be introduced at approximately 10:48 a.m.
Nick Anthony
The Angry Black Man will close out the first hour from an unusual vantage point - my chair. I wanted Nick to feel like he was in his own element when he begins a serious and substantive discussion on illegal immigration by having at least 10 minutes of uninterrupted rant time, ala his old "H.T.O.S." show which used to follow The Many Moods in the old days.
Listener phone calls are encouraged in the second hour as Nick, Crista and yours truly square off against Paul and Jay. Anthony's kick-off rant will primarily focus on how illegal aliens have destroyed American culture. He'll touch on so-called "guest worker" programs and also warn everyone about the impending new Amnesty bill being readied by the Obama administration.
Learn more about Jay, Crista and Nick on the Friends of DNA page.
You can email Vince Daniels at Commander@DNARadioShow.com.