Radio Free Flint Podcast

Jack Lessenberry and Flint area Detroit Tiger fans share their special memories of Ernie Harwell in this tribute podcast.

Award- winning journalist Jack Lessenberry, formerly of Michigan Public Radio, was a personal friend of Detroit Tiger broadcaster,

Ernie Harwell was a Michigan cultural icon. He has a special place in the hearts and memories of Tiger fans.

We invited Flint area fans to recount their favorite memories of Ernie. Included on our guest list are"

• Sue Meisner-Kelly a retired Flint Community Schools teacher,
• Dave Cobb a Flushing resident and retired GM employee, and
• Jeffrey Natchez a Flint area Optometrist who was drafted by the Detroit Tigers and played in their minor league system for a number of years.

Ten years ago in Ernie's final farewell to his fans he said, “I deeply appreciate the people of Michigan. I love their grit, I love the way they face life, I love the family values. And you Tiger fans are the greatest fans of all. No question about that.”.

Ernie Harwell may be gone but his legacy still lives in baseball fans everywhere especially in Flint and Detroit.

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#ernieharwell #detroittigers #sportsbroadcaster

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Musician George Winters has performed for audiences for over 50 years across America. The Michigan native is well-known in music venues in southeastern Michigan for his fabulous keyboard skills, especially on a Hammond organ. George plays the keyboard, guitar, and harmonica and also sings.
This podcast includes a conversation with George Winters about his long career and several unreleased tracks that include his distinctive mellow jazz and upbeat popular music. Winters shares his story about how his music career started and grew in and around Flint and Detroit, Michigan. In this podcast interview, he talks about how the troubles of the automobile industry affected the life of local musicians in Michigan.
The son of a Hammond B3 organ salesman, George got his musical start very early in life in Flushing, Michigan. He entertained the audience during local theater intermission as a child by playing the organ.
George shares stories about his interactions with former Detroit Tiger star pitcher Dennis McClain, who also was an organist. Winters tells of his amusing experience delivering a Hammond B3 organ to the home of Mark Farner of the Rock Band Grand Funk Railroad.
In recent years he has toured the country in clubs that host dueling pianos.
George has produced five compact disc recordings. The first, entitled "The Seed" was completed in 1994 and was recorded in less than two hours. "The Seed" was picked up by major retailers in Michigan, including Harmony House, prompting some local success. George's second effort, "Rhythm," released in 1998, comprises mostly original music with instrumentation including the Hammond B3, drums, bass, guitar, and piano.
His love of the dueling pianos concept also began in 1998 at JD's Key Club in Pontiac, MI, and continues to this day. You can see George at select Dueling Pianos clubs - click on "show dates" on his web page for a complete schedule.
With the release of his fifth CD, "Back to the B3" George hopes to put his music into more hands than ever, using the internet medium to deliver his creations. "Back to the B3" will be available soon from online retailers such as iTunes, or you can order directly from this website.

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Subscribe to the Radio Free Flint Podcast mailing list free of charge. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin.

Is it possible to make Flint laugh? If anyone can, it's Flint native Bryan McCree, a nationally known comedian, actor, and writer. He regularly tours America with shows marked by their insight into American culture and the oddities of life in our country. He is particularly astute at using humor to make us laugh at ourselves.
In this interview, Byran shares hilarious clips of his shows featuring humor about Flint, making the audience laugh at itself and its stereotypes about race and being poor.
Byran has regularly appeared on Comedy Central, Mad TV, NBC, and Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen. He is the nephew of the late Floyd J. McCree, former Mayor of Flint. Mayor McCree was a Michigan Civil Rights icon. Bryan's father was a jazz virtuoso, and his Great Aunt was a Broadway legend.
The Jherri curled comic has shared the stage with comedians such as Sinbad, George Wallace, and Robert Shimmel and with the group, The Isley Brothers. Bryan is a hilarious man with a demeanor and acting skills that can keep an audience in tears with laughter.
He spent years acting at Flint's McCree Theater, a venue named after his famous uncle. It was there he honed his stagecraft skills and charm. Comedy allows McCree to assume himself as the character in his one-man shows. He does all this with tremendous wit, insight, and a natural stage presence.
In this interview, he shares his life growing up in Flint, his family, attending Flint Southwestern High School, etc. He shares humorous antidotes about his younger days in Flint. Bryan tells of giving comedy shows to his classmates on the school bus each morning on their way to school. He laughs at the neighborhood days of playing the game of twelve. He never gives up on his beleaguered hometown.
McCree describes what it is like to live in a blue-collar town like Flint, Michigan. He reflects a good-natured poke at his audiences and himself.
Visit Bryan McCree's website to discover his scheduled shows, watch videos of his act, or get branded merchandise.
Watch Bryan McCree's comedy shows on his YouTube Channel or visit his Facebook Page.

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Flag Day Special. The Flint soldiers had much success as union soldiers in the American Civil War.

There were 90,000 Michigan soldiers deployed in the American civil war.

The Flint 10th Infantry deployed along with their battle flag to the civil war battlefields of Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, and North Carolina.

The union battle flags they carried were made and gifted to the 10th Michigan Infantry Regiment by women of Flint, Michigan. The union flags were presented to the men who went off to fight in the American civil war.

The 10th Michigan Infantry battle flags played a vital role on the civil war battlefields where they fought. After the American civil war ended, the battle flags were returned to Michigan and given to the Governor of Michigan. However, not all battle flags made it back home.

Save The Flags is a State of Michigan project to preserve, research and display the 240 civil war battle flags carried by Michigan soldiers during the Civil War, the Spanish American War, and World War I.

Michigan now has an "adoption" program to conserve these battle flags. Individuals, organizations, schools, families, and communities can help preserve, research, and display the civil war flags by "adopting" flags in the collection. To date, almost 150 flags — mostly from the Civil War — have been adopted, providing the project with much-needed funds.

Flint resident David Norris' great-grandfather, Talmon C. Owen, fought on the civil war battlefields with the 10th Michigan Infantry. The 10th Michigan Infantry Regiment was organized at Flint, Michigan, and mustered into Federal service for a three-year enlistment on February 10, 1862.

This Michigan unit fought their way in support of and on the front line of civil war battlefields, all the way with Sherman to the Sea. They were part of the attack and taking of Atlanta that resulted in the union side winning the civil war. The 10th Michigan Infantry Regiment lost during service; 7 Officers and 95 Enlisted men were killed and mortally wounded, and 2 Officers and 223 Enlisted men died by disease. There were 327 total civil war casualties in the unit.

Local townspeople presented Michigan regiments with beautiful silken battle flags leaving for the battlefield. The regiments received a stand of colors consisting of two national flags and regimental flags. The national flag was the traditional American red, white, and blue Stars and Stripes. The regimental flag typically had a solid blue field decorated with the Federal or Michigan coat of arms.

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