I climbed a crane once. It went up 13 stories, if I remember right. This particular one towered above Dickson Street as crews slung metal together on what would become The Dickson, the combined restaurant and condominium and television newsroom adjacent to George's Majestic Lounge. I surveyed all of Fayetteville that day -- my home, the campus, the sprawling hills to the south. The view was spectacular and unencumbered. I remember it well, and fondly.
The assignment was about seven years ago, and the idea was to write a trend story about the three cranes towering over the city's skyline. The story never ran. Cranes are tremendously expensive to rent and operate, I learned at the time. One of them was for the doomed Mountain Inn project just off College Avenue. When that crane went away, the story melted away like stories sometimes do.
The Fayetteville I looked at seven years ago is a much different one than the exists today. For one, there are far more people here. And many of those projects the cranes and bulldozers and other big yellow machines belched diesel smoke around came to fruition, or will soon. That includes miles of trails and a refurbished arts center. A baseball stadium to our north, a brand new outdoor amphitheater still to the north of that and a world-class art museum even further to the north are only but a few of the wonderful things built in our region in last few years. The growth stuns.
I remember flying on my way up the rungs that led to the observation deck of the crane. The excitement of tackling the climb and the story was palpable. Coming down the same rungs was a different matter. When you can see what you could land on should you fall, it provides context to a terrifying thing. Your brain knows, imagines in horrible ways even, what a fall from that distance would do to a human body.
Right now, I'm in the climbing down phase of a new endeavor. I accepted a position outside of the industry, and my final day after more than nine years at the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (or the other various iterations of its name) was Sept. 17. The descent is scary indeed, considering some rungs I'm looking at on the way down. I interviewed Mel Brooks for this paper. I interviewed Elie Wiesel for this paper. I covered a taxidermy contest. I ate a dozen milkshakes in month for one story. I drank every craft beer in this region for research. I once watched more than 75 bands in a seven-day period, if you count watching a minimum of three songs as one tally mark.
I met my girlfriend of three and a half years at a charity gala after we started talking about the musical act that night, Bret Michaels of Poison fame. I owe Bret Michaels a big thank you, and I promise that's one thing I never expected to say before I left the Kansas City area to accept a job in a city I barely knew.
I'll remember other concerts, too -- the Watkins Family Hour at the recent Fayetteville Roots Festival, the Avett Brothers at an early Harvest Fest -- R.I.P., Harvest, you'll be missed -- the first Lucero show I caught at the Dickson Theater, Glen Campbell's moving farewell at the Walton Arts Center, the night hometown favorite Lucinda Williams told a crowd that Osama Bin Laden had been killed and Levon Helm's stunning big band rambles at a few venues. I met Levon Helm once. A mutual acquaintance introduced us. Helm shook my hand and said "Hello, Kevin" in that buttery drawl before a show at the Walton Arts Center. He didn't sing a word that night, his voice too frail from the throat cancer that would eventually claim his life. I don't know exactly what to make of our introduction and his later inability to sing, but it struck me as a really human thing from a nice man. I certainly won't forget it. I will remember many things about many experiences here, and it's a tremendous honor to have met so many people and covered to many things.
I'll still be at shows. I'll still be at the gallery openings at Crystal Bridges. I'll still be drinking every craft beverage I can find. I'll write a lot, even sometimes for public consumption, and I'm very excited about some projects I have coming up in the near future. And I'll always think fondly of my time spent at this newspaper.
In my nine years in Northwest Arkansas, I've done a lot of climbing, personally and professionally. Thank you for opening up your homes and lives to me, and letting me see all of Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas, too.
NAN What's Up on 09/18/2015