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September 27, 2007
The Battle Road
I went for a bike ride early the other morning on the Battle Road through the Minuteman National Park. It is a dirt road/path(no cars) that meanders through shaded glens, past historic farms, and by carefully restored colonial buildings. It traces part of the route along which British soldiers and American colonists battle on the April 19th, 1775, the first day of the American Revolution.
It is a ride I go on often. In the early mornings, before the tourist foot traffic gets too heavy, it is quite peaceful-a great deal more peaceful than it likely was back on the historic day!
One of my favorite buildings on the path is the William Smith house. (Click on the picture at left to see a larger version.) More than any other building in the park, it always looks to me as if it was just plucked from the 18th century and plopped into the 20th for our viewing history. I don’t know if it is the materials, the setting, or what, but it calls to me every time I ride by.
BTW, William Smith was one of the commanders of the Lincoln Militia, which played an active role in the fighting that day. Although you may not have heard of him, you might know his sister Abigail Smith, who some years before had married an up and coming lawyer named John Adams.
Ah, recreation and revolution all in one bike ride. A great way to start the day!
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:30 PM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2007
The Ghost Army on NPR
NPR ran a story on The Ghost Army (the unit, not the film) last night on All Things Considered. Here's a link.
The eight-minute piece, produced by Deb George, provided a very good introductory overview of the tale. It is such a rich story that it is difficult to bring it all to life in that length of time, with no supporting visuals. I must confess I was relieved at everything that was left out—all the more left for our film!!
Three of the four people interviewed in the piece have a connection to the film: Author Jon Gawne and Army leadership Professor Roy Eicchhorn are both advisers on the film, and veteran Jack Masey is one of the veterans we interviewed.(I suggested him to the producer) The other person interviewed was famed abstract expressionist Ellsworth Kelly, also a veteran of the unit, who thus far has resisted being interviewed for this film.
I gave some (fairly minor) assistance to Deb as she was preparing the piece, and NPR was nice enough to link to the Ghost Army website (and our trailer on Youtube) on their web page. As you can imagine, that sent hundreds of people our way, which can’t be a bad thing. I've already received several emails from families of Ghost Army veterans that I had not previously been in touch with, and expect I will receive more.
Posted by rickbeyer at 05:35 PM | Comments (1)
September 23, 2007
Aboard the Godspeed
Recently, I spent a week in another world: sailing as a volunteer crewman aboard Godpseed.
The ship is a replica of one of three vessels that sailed from England to Jamestown in 1607, where they founded the the first permanent British colony in North America. I produced a documentary on the construction of the ship, Godspeed to Jamestown, that aired in 2005. That’s how I got a chance to serve on the ship's crew for the first leg of a two week journey to several ports in the Chesapeake Bay, where the ship was open to the public, this being the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown.
Captain Eric Speth and the three mates all work full time for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. Everybody else was a volunteer. The crew ranged from 26 to 78, and there were a couple of guys in their late 60’s who went aloft every day to unfurl and furl the sails. The picture at right shows a 68 year old grandfather, Tony Flores, scampering up the lines to unfurl the sails. What an inspiration!!
Most of the crew slept in the main cabin. I had an upper bunk with a good 18” of clearance between my nose and the deck above! Still, our living conditions were 100 times better than those of the folks who crossed the Atlantic on the original ship. Each bunk had a fan and an electric light. We had 13 people sleeping aboard instead of 52 on the original journey. And we had a great cook (Noel, a retired insurance broker) who made each meal a pleasure.
It was an amazing journey with a tremendous bunch of folks, and I will deal with some of the aspects of it in further posts.
Posted by rickbeyer at 09:26 PM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2007
New Book Countdown
UPS delivered two boxes of new books arrived last night, and I got a package today with a few more. It is always exciting to get your hands on the final product. I really the love the quality of the photo reproductions in the book...a leap forward! I also really dig the spine, which contains a tiny presidential seal between "Rick" and "Beyer"-just where it belongs!
If you want to monitor how long until the book comes out, here's the best way to do it: a countdown widget from Harper Collins. Best of all, you can copy and put it up on your own website, blog, etc.
It is really amazing how the marketing of books has changed since the first book came out four years ago. Harper Collins had a website, but they weren't doing much with it. This widget is just one example of the ways in which the publisher has embraced the internet.
Another is that they have done a deal with gather.com, which describes itself as "the premiere social networking site for 'grown-ups'". As part of this deal, Harper Collins is launching a sponsored group on Gather, the HarperCollins Book Group. Each month, the group will feature 2 authors. I'll be one of them in October. Check it out! So now social networking groups are one of the tools used to market books.
Of course some things don't change. Lisa Sweet will be working on this book as she has the previous two. She is the publicist on the original book, and now has her own company. Harper Collins brought her back for the War Stories book, and I am delighted that she will be working on this one too.
Posted by rickbeyer at 04:24 PM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2007
Revolution in Boston
A brief article in today's Boston Globe about our upcoming program, Revolution in Boston, which appears on The History Channel next Saturday, September 22, at 8 PM ET/PT
Posted by rickbeyer at 03:49 PM | Comments (0)
Facing the Truth
An article in today's New York TImes details the work forensic sculptor Sharon Long is doing to help solve a murder mystery in Florida. 
Sharon was featured in our documentary Secrets of Jamestown, where she was reconstructing the face of an early settler killed by a musket ball.
Sharon's been doing this a long time, and she is really quite amazing. The article details some of the techniques that we profiled in the show.
Posted by rickbeyer at 03:24 PM | Comments (0)
September 09, 2007
One week Left in Charity Badge Campaign
Just a few days left to help us earn a $10,000 matching grant for The Ghost Army documentary from sixdegrees.org
Here's a link to our fundraising 'badge'.
The six badges that have the most unique number of donations between July 19th and September 16th at 11:59pm ET will get a matching grant of up to $10,000 for their charity.
Since it is the number of unique donations that matters, a donation for a minimum of $10 will help us to succeed.
So far more than 80 people have donated over $4000. With only a few days left to make a difference, we hope you'll take time to donate.
Thanks!
Posted by rickbeyer at 06:53 PM | Comments (0)
September 06, 2007
NPR Story
I just got a call from an NPR producer named Deb George who is working on a story on The Ghost Army, which will run in a few weeks. (It is part of a series they are doing that is loosely tied in with the upcoming Ken Burns documentary on World War II
I am helping out in every way I can, and asking them to link to us from their website...which hopefully will generate some traffic and maybe some donations. I'll post more on this when I know it.
Posted by rickbeyer at 01:35 PM | Comments (2)
September 05, 2007
Revolution in Boston
Program Note: The documentary I have been working on for much of the last year, SAVE OUR HISTORY: REVOLUTION IN BOSTON, will air on The History Channel on Saturday September 22 at 8 PM ET/PT.
Here's the description from The History Channel's press release:
It was on the streets of Boston that colonial patriots first stirred the fires of independence and abolitionists in the nineteenth century called for an end to slavery. These transforming movements can be traced back to two historic places: The Old State House and The African Meeting House. SAVE OUR HISTORY: REVOLUTION IN BOSTON explores the history behind these two notable buildings as they undergo major preservation efforts.
The show includes some very cool re-enactment sequences, as well as some wonderful animations done by Sputnik up in Portland Maine.Just for fun, here are three frames from an animation they worked really hard on that depicts the Old State House through the years from 1775 to today, with the buildings around undergoing tremendous changes.
More on this program as the date gets closer.
Posted by rickbeyer at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)