Blue Ridge (LCC 19) - Naval Cruise Book

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Hiii i I lights- Talent Show ET2 Gregory T. Breeden on the guitar takes the $1 00 first-prize gift certificate. Highway One ' s bassist, 20-year-old Fireman Kieth A. Riley of St. Louis, Missouri, j oined up witin Eddington last December, ' i love music, Riley added, and I play for the pure enjoyment of it. The talent show was great, mainly because it allowed us the opportunity to perform in front of an audience. Do you know anyone who can play the accordion? Third-place winner ISSN Paul E. Curtis, 19, has been playing one for 1 2 years. I wanted to see what type of reaction the crew would have towards accordion music, said Curtis. It appears as if they liked it. And Seaman Artemio C. Molina bagged a special day off for his impersonations of A Soldier in Combat. I got the idea from The W.OOO-Day Wai a documentary on U.S. involvement in Vietnam, Molina explained. I wanted to portray the emotions of an Highway One bassist BTFA Keith A. Riley. American soldier guarding an airfield under heavy artillery fire by North Vietnamese forces. I had a great time. Molina wasn ' t alone. The audience averaged 250 clapping and laughing sailors and Marines throughout the two-and-a-half-hour contest. To say the least, many who watched thought the show was a hit and wanted to see seconds— including Captain Thomas D. Paulsen. The talent show just confirms my suspicions that there is a great deal of talent in any organization containing the American Bluejacket, said the Captain, who served as a judge for the contest. I think everyone involved did a super job! When asked if he felt the show was the start of a new tradition for Blue Ridge, Captain Paulsen said, I don ' t see why not! For one, I didn ' t have anyone come up to me later and tell me they didn ' t like it and never wanted another one again It was a great show! Three of seven talent show judges (left to right) : Captain (Chaplain) Charles Parker, Captain Thomas D. Paulsen, and Lt. Dolph A. Diemont. The judges were selected to represent the officers and enlisted men of the ship. It was a day for sun, laughs and entertainment. The original idea behind a talent show was for everyone to have a good time. Now all that is left to do is start plans for the Second Annual Blue Ridge Talent Show. 28

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Highlights 1ST TALENT SHOW PUTS CREW IN THEIR OWN PACIFIC THEATER Ten contestants and one rain squall performed during Blue Ridae ' sVnsi Annual Talent Show while the Flagship was enroute to Thailand in April 1985. At first 1 had my doubts about how the crew felt about a talent show, says talent coordinator RP3 Douglas W. Ryan of San Antonio, Texas. But 1 couldn ' t have been happier the way everything turned out! Actually, 21 -year-old Ryan first thought of staging a talent show in May ' 84 as a way of doing something nice for the crew. It looks like we may have started a fine tradition for the ship, he smiled, adding, people are asking me when the next show will be. Seven officer and enlisted judges presided over the contest held on the ship ' s main deck. Gift certificates of $100, $50, and $25 were awarded to the first, second and third place winners. Each winner also received a duty day off in Pattaya Beach, Thailand. A regular performer at the Coffee House in Yokosuka, ET2 Gregory T. Breeden took first prize with his solos on the guitar and harmonica. I believed I had a good chance of winning, said the 26-year-old from Ranson, West Virginia. Besides, I ' m a firm believer in the old adage, ' you never know who ' s going to be in the audience ' ... I didn ' t have anyone come up to me later and say they didn ' t like it, said Captain Thomas D. Paulsen, then the Blue Ridge ' s Commanding Officer. The $25 third prize went to ISSR Paul E. Curtis on the accordion. For SI 12 Sheadrick D. Eddington, music is as much a part of his life as his job in the Navy is. He ' s the lead vocalist and keyboards for the second-place winning jazz group, Highway One. I ' ve been involved musically now for 25 years, says Eddington, 3 1 , of Dallas, Texas. I played in a rhythm and blues band back in Los Angeles before I joined the Navy in 1976. We toured both U.S. coasts — even played once in Japan at a club named Mugen ' s in Tokyo. 27

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1 hi. i: ' yi ]nillen ' Piuhen ■ ' ■; ' . ihere | Highlights- Talent Show Keyboard vocalist SK2 Sheadrick Eddington of the second-place winning act Highway One. The two-man jazz group won a $50 gift certificate. 29