"Street Survivors" Album Cover

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Street Survivors” Photo of Album Cover

I remember what a hard time the band had trying to get the picture
for the front cover of the "Street Survivors" album. The set'up at
Universal Studios was a metal trough in front of the band, one in each
of the windows located on both sides of the band, and an explosion
that would go off behind the band. The explosion would go off, setting
the troughs on fire, just as the picture was being taken, giving the
effect of Lynyrd Skynyrd coming into town and setting it on fire
-which was what they always did. The problem was that the flames in
the trough in front of them would rise up too high causing the band
members to jump back.

On a couple of occasions, the gas that was being used to start the
fires would burn too long causing the wood in the town setting to
catch on fire. The studio firemen would come in and put the fires out
and then they'd have to start all over.
Finally, after about a hundred fires and a half a day of shooting they
got it right. The picture was almost perfect except Gary was jumping
back a little.

After the plane crash and the death of Ronnie, Steve, and Cassie,
the survivors decided that the fire scene wasn't very appropriate and
they took the picture that was originally supposed to go on the back
cover of the album and put it on the front. The fire scene ended up on
the back cover.

Thanks,
Gene Odom

http://lynyrdskynyrddixie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1505

Hit Men On The High Seas

THE HITMEN ON THE HIGH SEAS Cruise - Valentines 2009
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Gene Odom will be speaking onboard THE HITMEN ON THE HIGH SEAS cruise sharing his experience about his travels with the original band Lynyrd Skynyrd and the tragic airplane crash on October 20, 1977.
The Hitmen of Music Row are “hitting” the Caribbean for the HITMEN ON THE HIGH SEAS cruise event. The Hitmen of Music Row consists of master songwriters Bob DiPiero (George Strait’s “Blue Clear Sky,” Brooks & Dunn’s “Can’t Take the Honky Tonk Out Of the Girl”), Craig Wiseman (Kenny Chesney’s “The Good Stuff” and “Summertime,” Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying”), Jeffrey Steele (Rascal Flatts’ “What Hurts The Most” and “My Wish”), and Tony Mullins (Kenny Chesney’s “How Forever Feels” and Rascal Flatts’ “Me & My Gang”). They have written 39 #1 songs, have over 300 charted singles, have over 800 recorded songs, and have songs on albums with over 150,000,000 combined sales. This cruise is departing from Miami, FL Sat 2/14/09 with stops at Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands and Ocho Rios, Jamaica, returning back to Miami, FL Thu 2/19/09. The Hitmen of Music Row will be filming onboard the ship for segments to use on their reality show which airs on GAC.

Every passenger will be able to enjoy Carnival Cruise Lines exceptional stateroom accommodations, dining options, a variety of facilities and activities, entertainment, fitness center, Camp Carnival children’s program, special shipboard events and fabulous destinations. Those passengers sailing with the HITMEN ON THE HIGH SEAS will be given a special access pass upon boarding which will enable them access to special concerts performed by The Hitmen of Music Row, songwriting workshop, autograph sessions, and a Q & A session.
The only way to book this cruise is by visiting http://lynyrdskynyrddixie.com/category/blog/fan-pages/ or by calling the reservation hotline at 352-422-2620.

JAWS!!!

I was flipping the channels last night and ran across the movie "Jaws". It reminded me of a good story. It was the same creek me and Ronnie fed the wasp larvae to the bream. You had to be careful because this creek had alligators that lived in it. They never bothered anything, but they sure would scare the hell out of you. There was a particular alligator that lived to the left of Ronnie's house. This alligator was about thirteen feet long. It was the biggest alligator Ronnie and I had ever seen, so he named him Jaws. Ronnie's brother-in-law, David Seymour, used to be a guide in the Okefenokee Swamp for eight years and had seen a lot of alligators, but he said that this alligator was the biggest one he had ever seen. Ronnie wouldn't get in the water if Jaws was around. Well, one day, Ronnie, David, and I were building a boat house. Ronnie and David were in the water holding up a twenty foot pole so I could jet it into the ground with a pump. I had started up the pump and suddenly got a wild idea to scare the hell out of Ronnie. I hollered, "There's Jaws." Ronnie screamed and splashed up the ladder. I laughed so hard, I think I wet my pants. Man, was he mad. He said, "Son, your time is coming." The next day, bright and early when we started to work, sure enough, there was Jaws, lying in his same old spot. We didn't go in the water until after Jaws had left and had been gone for about an hour. We just worked on top of the dock. We decided it was safe to go in the water and I said, "Okay, I'll start the pump." Ronnie, David, and Judy were all standing on the dock watching. I had to start the pump with a pull rope, so I wrapped the rope around the crank and gave it a good pull, but the rope broke. I was splashing around trying to figure out what had happened when Ronnie yelled, "Look out, there's Jaws." It scared me so bad that I ran into the dock, bumped my head, and got all scratched up. By the time I got up on the bank I realized what he had done because they were all laughing their guts out. After that, we finished the boat house with no more Jaws jokes.

Thanks,
Gene Odom