Behind The Music In Music City USA-Half Day Tour With Transportation

Are you tired of tours with 20 or more people with a guide you can hardly hear and miss some sights. Enjoy a private, personalized tour with only four people, where you can ask as many questions as you want. Now, you have the opportunity to meet someone who has "been there - seen it - did that" with many inside and interesting stories to tell. You won't hear the typical guide stories about facts and figures of certain famous locations on this tour. What you will hear are the true stories that occurred at these famous sites along with many other interesting locations, off the beaten path. Working with the Metropolitan Police Department in Nashville, TN for 25 years provided the opportunity to work security for major stars of the music, television and movie industry. One of my first jobs was working with Elvis on a security detail he hired from the MPD for his recordings in Nashville. Security was provided to many others while employed with the police department. I have been able to: - Do pushups with Johnny Carson with Ed McMahon and Pat Paulsen doing the counting; - Have Gregory Peck ask me to forget what I just saw; - Meet the Cartwright's of Bonanza fame; - Hold James Brown's jewelry just before he would come off stage; - Throw Jackie Wilson back on stage during his concert; - Shoot pool with George Strait, not knowing who he was; - Ask a director where he found a particular bunch of singers, during a week's taping - talking about Garth Brooks, Allen Jackson, Clint Black, Randy Travis, and KD Lang; - Give Johnny Cash a ticket for a hit and run accident; - Raid Waylon Jennings during a recording session; - Drive an undercover police car into a lake (told the dispatcher I was abandoning ship); - Have a mouse named Fred that the drug dealers offered a $2000 reward for because we had them believing that Fred could smell out drugs; - Pull the leg of young, Channel 5 TV crime beat reporter as she was starting her career, known today as Oprah; - Meet four of the US Presidents with a claim very few people can make. I actually sat in the same seat of the Presidential Limousine that President Kennedy was shot in six months prior to his death. Handled the Artist's Backstage Entrance of the Grand Ole Opry for 8 years. Entrance is allowed only through a backstage list and I was known as "The Keeper of the List". This provided the opportunity to meet and converse with the country music artists of yesteryear, today and the future, along with many celebrities from all walks of life. To name a few would include Jerry Lewis, Paul McCartney, Nicole Kidman, Kevin Costner, Arnold Schwarznegger, Jack Black, Kevin Bacon, Tom Arnold, Burt Reynolds, Bette Midler, John Ritter, Joe Montana, Kim Cattrall, Lisa Marie Presley, Robin Williams, Steve Martin and many, many others. Everyone from the movies, television, the sports world, US Senators and Representatives, US Supreme Court Justices and many others who visited Nashville and wanted to attend the longest running radio show and did so. I was the fortunate individual who checked them in at the Grand Ole Opry for their special night. In May of 2010, my wife of 50 years, Sarah Lee, and I experienced something I hope no one ever experiences again. A flash flood with a wall of water 10' high exploded our home, taking us downstream. Fighting our way out of the water and walking back to our home, we found our home with three walls and the roof on the ground. Everything we owned was gone. The city condemned it and stated it could not be rebuilt. No insurance made us begin our lives over again. When we married, we had a little TV and a 1957 Chevrolet, baby blue in color, and did okay over the years. My only wish now is that we had more time now and still owned that '57 Chevy. My final adventure and hope in life is. . . not to leave this old world in a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and proclaiming. . . "Wow, what a ride!!!" Meeting with people from all walks of life is an enjoyment I look forward to. - Member of 101st Airborne Division, 101st Military Police Detachment, Ft Campbell, KY - Retired from Metropolitan Police Department, Nashville, TN as a Lieutenant after 25 years of service - Served as the First Vice-President of the National Drug Enforcement Officers Association which encompassed all 50 states and 4 foreign countries - Author of three drug educational books that have been accepted on a local, state and national level * This is a drive by tour with me as your driver guide. * Due to time restrictions, you will not be able to visit inside the famous locations. * Please inquire for arrangements to accommodate larger groups than 4.