J~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~J O R O C K Y M O U N T A I N H I G H O H =============================================== H N The John Denver Internet Fan Club N D D E M O N T H L Y N E W S L E T T E R E N N V D E C E M B E R 1 9 9 7 V E E R http://www.sky.net/~emily Emily Parris emily@sky.net R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TABLE OF CONTENTS December 1997 - Issue #44 JD on TV and Other News..................................1 "A Fire in His Heart"...new book by Roger Himes..........2 "Yellowstone" by John Denver.............................3 "A Trip to Monterey" by Ann Schnitz......................4 John Denver in Hollywood.................................6 John Denver Notes........................................7 John Denver Want Ads.....................................9 Poetry Corner: "The Nature of the Man Called John" by Diane Mazzaferro................................10 ======================================= JOHN DENVER ON TV & OTHER NEWS ======================================= MCCLOUD EPISODE ON A&E: The McCloud episode that featured John Denver will air December 16 at 7:00am cst and at 1:00pm cst on A&E. The episode is entitled "The Colorado Cattle Caper". It was John's first acting assignment. He sings on the episode as well. WILDLIFE CONCERT on A&E: The "Wildlife Concert" will be aired on Saturday, 12/27/97 from 10:00 PM to midnight and again on December 28, 1997 from 2:00-4:00 AM. on A&E. Check your local listings for the exact time in your time zone. ALFIE: THE CHRISTMAS TREE This book is available through the Windstar Foundation. It was written by John Denver and published by the Nat'l Wildlife Federation. It is $12.00 plus $5.00 shipping/handling. Windstar Foundation / 2317 Snowmass Creek Road / Snowmass, CO 81654 or call (970) 927-4777 Fax: (303) 927-4779. "MERRY CHRISTMAS ASPEN" is also available in Vinyl or on cassette from the Windstar Foundation. (See info above). WORLD FOLK MUSIC ASSOCIATION TRIBUTE TO JOHN: From: Mary Ledford The WFMA will be doing a tribute to John on Jan. 16, 1998 with all the old "cellar door gang". It will be at 7:30 pm at the Birchmere, 3801 Mount Vernon Avenue, Alexandria, VA. Bill Danoff and the Hard Travelers are putting this together. John will also be awarded the WFMA lifetime achievement award during this tribute. There is more information at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Chuck_Morse/wfma.htm LOS ANGELES TIMES: (12/5/97) Denver Tribute: The Alliance for Survival will honor John Denver on what would have been his 54th birthday, December 31. Several tributes, including performances of his songs, will be given during the Alliance's New Year's Eve Earth Party at 8:00 pm at Santa Monica's Church in Ocean Park. Tickets are $30.00. DEC 31, 1997 - 3:00 PM - Hershey, PA There will be a Memorial Service for John at Hershey Park's Candylane. The service will be held near his handprints which are set in cement in the park. for info. ============================================== "A Fire In His Heart & A Light In His Eyes: John Denver's Legacy" by Roger Himes ============================================== A Review by Emily M. Parris: I was totally amazed when this book appeared in my mailbox a few days ago. It talks about John's legacy to us - how he had a fire in his heart and how he lived from his heart. John kept his heart out there for us to see and that is what we loved about him. That's what made us connect with him and take him into our hearts as a personal friend. That's also what gave us such intense grief recently when we found him no longer with us. In this book Roger Himes analyzes John's way of living and explains how we can live that way too. It's an upbeat, inspirational self-help book wrapped around commentary on the legacy of John Denver. It couldn't have come to us at a more appropriate time. Roger was writing this book at the time of John's death, and here is his commentary from the first page: "My Purpose For This Book" John Denver impacted my life in a very BIG way, and I was ironically writing about some of those ways BEFORE his untimely death. He had a very profound influence on me. But this book is not just about ME and John, it's about YOU and John. My hope is that, even though he has now gone from us, he will have an even greater impact upon your life through the pages of this book. He was quite a person. I shared the stage with John many years ago in Texas. For a short season in our lives we were very good friends. We lost touch when he career took off like a rocket, and I moved to Denver and built a law practice in a very unique way: - singing in Nightclubs! The media dubbed me, "the singing attorney," and also "a singer with a John Denver Delivery." You could see John's impact on me from the earliest years. Even the media saw it. Today I'm still a lawyer, and also a licensed counselor. However, I only partially function in these areas at this point in my life. My interests mostly lie in other areas: writing, speaking, hiking, biking, and attempting to be a good husband to my wife Eileen, and a good day to my two daughters Lisa and Shawn, and our adopted son Ralph." Roger Himes Denver, Colorado As Roger says in his "opening statement"....The "intent of this book is to light John's legacy in our lives, so that it keeps burning bright, and so that his legacy lives on both WITHIN us, as well as THROUGH us." I highly recommend this upbeat book for anyone who is a fan of John Denver. Emily Parris Kansas City, MO For more information on purchasing the book, you can check out the www site at or write to Roger at . There is an address and phone number for Roger in the "want ad section" of the newsletter. ===================================== YELLOWSTONE by John Denver ===================================== The song opens with JD doing wolf howls. aooooooooooooo Oh the Yellowstone Oh the buffalo free Oh my brother the wolf My mother the moon Oh the little ones Oh the joy that I feel Oh the love of my heart The wilderness song aooooooooooooo Oh the waterfall Oh the river that runs Oh my brother the wind My sister the sea Oh the ocean shore Oh the castles of stone Oh the mountain tops Calling to me aooooooooooooaooooooooo Come home aoooooooooooo Returning forever returning Coming home Belonging forever belonging Never alone Oh the mystery Oh the dreaming of dreams Oh my brother my own My sister my own Oh the tenderness Oh the longing for love Oh the beautiful way The sweet coming home aoooooooooooooaooooooo Coming home oooooooooaooooooooooo Copyright by John Denver - 1997 ************************************************* A TRIP TO MONTEREY by Ann Schnitz This is my story about our expedition to Monterey. For those of you who have not been to this glorious area in California, I should tell you that it is about a 2.5 hour trip south from San Francisco, down the magnificent Pacific Coast Highway (Rte 1). You also have the choice of Rte 101, which goes inland (and is faster -- we took it going back to save some time), but then you'd miss the incredible views of the ocean below you as you hug the coastline. I last visited here as a girl of 17, and memories of Rte 1 -- a slim, two -lane highway above the surf -- stayed in my imagination. My boyfriend David had never been in California before, so the choice of which road to take was a "no brainer". I thought too, of how John had written "Perhaps Love" while driving this highway, finding that lovely song in the depths of his despair, and now, I would be going to the very last place he saw on earth, on this road. On other trips where we drove through gorgeous scenery, it was John's voice that accompanied us. We wended our way through the mountains in Colorado and he provided the music. This time, though, the singer was silent. He sang only in my heart. We arrived in Monterey on Friday midday and spent the afternoon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium -- a wonderful experience for us two marine biologists. But it was 5:00 by the time we had had our fill of the place, and I didn't want to find myself in Pacific Grove at sunset, with the added emotional impact that would have, so we decided to wait until the next morning to make our pilgrimage. On Saturday, we set out. It was an overcast day, as it had been throughout most of the previous week, and I only hoped it would wait to rain until after we had left Pacific Grove. We easily found the little rocky spit of coastline that was a few hundred yards from where the plane went down. By the way, this is not Lover's Point, as so many of the news media reported, but another turnoff -- Hays Point -- from Ocean View Boulevard where you can climb down onto a small beach. David and I parked and he went to scout, to see where the best spot to climb down onto the sand might be, and I, alone, approached the rocks. Curiously, I wasn't alone. A ground squirrel who had been foraging among the rocks noted my arrival and came eagerly running up to me. He paused just inches from my feet and looked up into my eyes as if he had been expecting me all along. We stood that way for a few minutes -- I was afraid to move and possibly scare him away, and then Dave came back to me and saw us together. He said, "Do you believe in reincarnation?" I wanted to, at that moment. Finally, we climbed down onto the beach that was littered with shells and bits of kelp. The surf was crashing all around and I only had moments before the next wave came in to drop one of my flowers into the water -- they were lovely pink and purple blooms, I wish I knew what they were. By this point, I was crying heavily, thinking of the glorious man who had given my life so much...who I missed so much already...who had left us all much too soon. It was Nature's way, I knew, to reclaim that which had been created...and it almost seemed a fitting place for this Great Soul to have flown away. At Dave's urging, we climbed back up, away from the surf, and ventured out to the edge, hanging over the sea. On the rocks jutting out of the water nearby, cormorants were sunning their wings. There was an oyster catcher walking about, looking for food, and in the water, a scuba class was learning to dive. Life was going on, as mine would, as all of ours surely will. I cast my remaining flowers into the air and watched as they arced gracefully down into the waiting waters. We could see them floating on the surface amid the swirling foam, and then, we turned to leave....Just as we reached the car, the clouds parted and a beam of utterly pure sunshine burst through. I put my face up to feel the warmth on my cheeks. Good bye, my precious John. Good bye to so much of the life I loved living while you were in it. For the rest of the day, we drove along the coast, first south to Carmel and then north, up to the Muir Woods above Sausalito. We saw Spyglass Hills, where John spent such a happy last day and I thought of how much he loved playing in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and we marveled at the redwoods. And all during that day, he was there by my side. I could almost hear that infectious giggle he had when life ticked him, as it so often did. As I only hope I will someday feel again. John Denver in HOLLYWOOD ======================== John Denver BILLBOARD: The John Denver billboard is up at the corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Cahuenga Blvd. It is 20 x 40 feet and there is a picture of it on the RMH www page. The Billboard was put up by Larry and Sandy Post. It will be there until the end of December. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- USA Today On the USA Today website in October: "Denver's star missing on Walk of Fame" by David M. Deal John Denver doesn't have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but it's not because he wouldn't pay the sponsorship fee as some California radio stations reported earlier this week. "They've got it all wrong," Hollywood Chamber of Commerce spokeswoman Ana Martinez-Holler said Wednesday. "He was selected in 1982," Martinez-Holler says, and the $3,000 sponsorship fee (now $7,500) was paid but he never was able schedule a date for the dedication ceremony." "Sometimes (stars) changed publicists and didn't know they had one approved," Martinez-Holler says. "Sometimes they just can't work it into their schedule." The idea hasn't been forgotten over the years. In 1993 John Denver's fan club, "Rhymes and Reasons", was still trying to get him to set a date for the ceremony, Martinez-Holler says. It's not unusual for Hollywood's brightest to wait years before getting their star on the Walk of Fame. Englebert Humperdinck waited 10 years and Rita Moreno 13 from the time they were selected until their ceremonies were scheduled. There is still a chance for the country singer known for hits such as "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and "Take Me Home, Country Roads". "We do award the stars posthumously," Martinez-Holler says. But it isn't known if Denver's family, friends or fans will schedule a ceremony. - - - - - (Thank you to Naomi Beebe for this article). Note: I'll be contacting the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to see what can be done about scheduling. John's star on Hollywood Boulevard is long overdue .......Emily =========================================== J O H N D E N V E R N O T E S =========================================== From: Henry Smiley I just read on the online version of"Billboard" that on Nov. 12, the RIAA certified "The Wildlife Concert" GOLD (500,000 copies sold). What a poignant irony--exactly one month after John's passing. If only he could have been here to see it. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "COUNTRY CHRISTMAS" CD: The "Country Christmas" cd produced by Scottie Brothers Records has cuts by Buck Owens, Tex Ritter, Gene Autry and the song "Christmas for Cowboys" by John Denver. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - JOHN DENVER DOCUMENTARY: E! Entertainment Television is going to have a one-hour documentary on John Denver. I heard from Alysia Cotter who is doing research on the RMH www page........(Emily) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - John Denver Products: Arthur Jackson has set up a John Denver Products page at . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: The monthly EAA magazine, "Sports Aviation", November issue has a really nice tribute to John. The Rediscover Music catalog also has a nice tribute and they re-ran an interview they did with him 5 years ago. They are carrying many of his cd's and videos and have several pages on him. For a catalog call 1-800-232-7328. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Keynote Talk on John Denver's Legacy: Roger Himes, (whose book is reviewed in this newsletter) also has a motivating, inspiring, musical keynote talk complete with some John Denver music! You can call (303) 988-9112 if you'd like to schedule him for an event. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Reader's Digest John Denver CD Set: From: Val You can order the Reader's Digest John Denver cd set by calling 1-800-491-7504. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: Emily Ann Kennedy of the Aspen Skiing Company emailed me for verification on the year John was born. They are putting a plaque up in John's memory at the top of the Snowmass Ski Area in Aspen, Colorado. - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - A&E's show "Biography of the Year" is being aired December 29th. Visit their website at and vote for JOHN! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TV SPECIALS: From: Belle Davis I will make copies of John's tv specials, etc. Just email or send a SASE for my list. Belle Davis 1445 Bet level Rd./ Dawson Springs, KY 42408 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TAKE HIM HOME: Frank DeLaMarre has a John Denver tribute cd called "Take Him Home". His www site is . The cd is $7.00 and can be ordered from: Frank DeLaMarre / Take Him Home / 952 Fairway Trails / Brighton, MI 48116 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Donna Pinto has a 45 page book with 400 postings from the internet. It is $5.00 and also includes a cassette tape called "The Elusive Contract". Email her or mail to Donna Pinto / 124 West Ave / Westville, NJ 08093 She also has a Video of the Memorial Services tv coverage available for a $20.00 donation to Plant-It 2000. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - New Members: Welcome to the club! If you would like copies of the October Newsletter, the Memorial Bulletin, the JD Live Chat on Compuserve, or the JDI form for new members, I'll be glad to send them to you. Email me at . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From the John Denver MemoBook: Vicki So many times in the last weeks, we have been upset by the portrayal of John in the media or by those who remark negatively on John's struggles in his personal life, his difficulties in living up to his own ideals. As if these struggles somehow negate what he accomplished and the truths he told and sang about. To those people my answer is simple..."Yes, he was a great 'human' being. Thank God he was a country boy, a regular guy with the same kinds of faults and problems I have. I'm glad to leave the sainthood for Mother Theresa. Saints inspire me and leave me feeling awed. I think John was/is a practicing idealist, not perfect by any means. He is a poet for all times. He is my teacher, but even more endeared to me because he is also a fellow student and seeker. He gave a beautiful voice to the vision for the future we all share. He struggled but never lost sight of the loving vision or lost the desire to share it. When i struggle, I am inspired by his example. I would like to tell the media outlets and others who haven't 'got it' yet. Listen and hear God's message in the music, love the man for who he was and continue the dream in whatever way you can. Our future depends on it. =================================================== JOHN DENVER W A N T A D S / F O R S A L E =================================================== From: Emily WALKING THUNDER "Walking Thunder", the last movie in which John appeared is available through RMH & RatedGee Entertainment for $24.99. Email and ask for "walking.txt" for an order form. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - John Denver jewelry is now available from RMH. Check out http://www.sky.net/~emily/jewelry.htm to look at necklaces created in John's memory. The John Denver necklace has his name spelled out and has a dolphin as well. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: Roger Himes My book, "A Fire in His Heart & A Light In His Eyes: John Denver's Legacy" will be available in January 1998. You can email me for more information, call (303-998-9112) or write to: Lamplighter Books, P. O. Box 281206 / Lakewood, CO 80228 It is $16.00 shipped from Colorado, or $12.95 retail. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you need a Xerox copy of the 2 programs from the Memorial Services in Aurora, CO send $2.00 to John Denver Memorial Programs / 3820 Baltimore / Kansas City, MO 64111 - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: Arthur Jackson Would like information on any John Denver products to add to the John Denver www site at http://www.naturemusic.com> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willing to Trade: I own the following vinyl record albums "Aerie" (1972), "Spirit" (1976), "Rhymes & Reasons" (1969), "Take Me To Tomorrow" (1970), "Whose Garden Was This" (1970), "John Denver" (1979). I am willing to trade my vinyl albums for new, unused cd's containing the identical songs. For details contact . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: Debora Rougeux Greg would like to get vinyl albums of "JD & the Muppets: A Christmas Together" and "Whose Garden Was This". Debbie is looking for a cassette or cd of "Different Directions." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Music for a Song: http://www.musicforasong.com They have outlets in 16 states and ship worldwide. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - There is a proposed John Denver Wilderness Area. West Henry of the National Park Service has been contacted but he needs to know that there is a body of people who support this. To show your support for this project please write to Brian Entz via email or by postal mail: 14599 Riverside Dr. / Apple Valley, CA 92307 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: Cathey Cantrell I am desperately seeking a video of the "Christmas in Aspen" tv special. I lost my copy when I moved to Atlanta 3 years ago. Cathey Cantrell / 1292 Winslow Drive / Jonesboro, GA 30238. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - From: Joseph Allen I am looking for the "Spirit" recording on cd. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sunfire Productions 210 AABC #M / Aspen, CO 81611 has a video called "In Memory of John Denver". It is a 90 minute compilation of John's songs from the Choices Symposiums. Phone: (970) 920-9292 or Fax: (970) 920-1459. $50.00 They also have a list of other Choices videos available. - -- - -- -- - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> THE NATURE IN THE MAN CALLED JOHN by Diane Mazzaferro You're shades of Earth in perfect blend My Writer, Artist, Teacher, Friend.. A wave of blue on restless sea As true as tide, completely free.. To soar, to leave - take wings and fly A rainbow's hues on dark grey sky Earth's 'Golden Son' - our brightest star Who's music shows us who we are.. With words of "How things should have been"! From Writer, Artist, Teacher, Friend. Copyright 1997 Diane Mazzaferro ********************************************************* Rocky Mountain High: The John Denver Internet Fan Club emily@sky.net http://www.sky.net/~emily December 1997 * Issue #44 * Editor: Emily Parris *********************************************************