AMS client and author Kevin Miller on WJER Radio

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THIS AIR FORCE VET FOUND OUT HIS NAME HAD BEEN CHANGED AFTER STUMBLING ACROSS AN OLD NEWSPAPER ARTICLE; WHAT HE FOUND OUT CHANGED KEVIN MILLER’S LIFE FOREVER

~Kevin Miller’s “Heart of Steel” uncovers a gripping incredible true story of murder, escape, perseverance, redemption and love ~

Author Kevin Miller with Bill Morgan, host of Morgan-in-the-Morning show on WJER Radio

How would you feel if you woke up one morning to learn the name you’ve used all your life is NOT your real name? And, when you find out why, it leads to you uncovering your direct connection to an infamous murder mystery in a small midwestern town in the 1920’s, the results of which are still reverberating today.

Heart of Steel is an incredible true story that begins when Air Force veteran Kevin Miller accidentally discovers in an old yellowed newspaper clipping that his real last name isn’t the All American Miller, but the very Polish Puchalski. Kevin soon learns that his grandfather Stanley “Miller” Puchalkski was a man with many secrets, and they were all buried with him.

 

This sent Kevin on a dogged search back through time for clues from decades-old newspaper clippings that were his only hope to find out what happened. What he discovered shook him to his core. Kevin’s grandfather was involved in a murder-mystery, an indescribable tragedy, a major midwestern scandal and a daring escape, pushing him beyond impossible odds towards healing, redemption and finally true love and real forgiveness.

Born in Ohio and now settled with his family in Southern California, author Kevin D. Miller was in Ohio to conduct more research and document his grandfather’s amazing story as well as collect video footage and photographs of the locales featured in his best selling book “Heart of Steel”.

About the book:  “Heart of Steel’ is a true story based on real-life: real- life drama, real life hardships, real love and family. Set in the rural Midwest of 1920’s small-town America, the story begins September 13, 1920, when a tragic murder takes place at the Puchalski farmhouse in Southington, Ohio. Twelve-year-old Stanley (author Kevin Miller’s grandfather) desperately runs along a dusty country road sent by his frantic mother to fetch the county Sheriff. An infamous scandal unfolds over the next several weeks, taking Stanley and his siblings on a harrowing journey through a notorious orphanage and an incredible attempt to escape. Readers will be touched by how a young man’s devotion to his family pushes him beyond impossible odds and testifies to the perseverance of the human spirit. “Heart of Steel” is available on Amazon.com and bookstores everywhere. Get your copy at www.heartofsteelbook.com

About the Author:  Kevin D. Miller was born in Canton, OH, moved to Arizona and grew up in Tempe before settling with his family in Southern California. An engineer by profession, Kevin served in the USAF and has tried his hand at acting and web designing. His love for true stories based on real-life inspired him to become a writer and pen ‘Heart of Steel.’

Kevin says that “when I came face to face with the true identity of my family, the tormented past my grandfather never spoke about and wanted to keep hidden, and his sacrifices so his future generations survived and were happy, it was a story that had to be written and shared.”

Morgan Spurlock Blasts Off At 2019 Rocket Boys Festival in Beckley WV

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20th annual Rocket Boys/October Sky Festival September 26th- 28th in Beckley WV will be the last to feature appearances by Rocket Boys Homer Hickam and Roy Lee Cooke-this year’s festival dedicated to the memory of Rocket Boy Quentin Wilson

 Rocket Boys Festival opens Thursday night September 26th with an appearance by Beckley WV native and award-winning filmmaker Morgan Spurlock and a screening of his new film “Supersize Me 2-Holy Chicken!”

All good things must come to an end, and much like the farewell tours currently underway by music superstars Elton John, Lynryd Skynryd, KISS and others, this year’s Rocket Boys/October Sky Festival September 26th- 28th in Beckley West Virginia is expected to be the last to feature in-person appearances by Homer Hickam and his childhood friends the Rocket Boys.

That’s according to festival director Scott Hill, who noted that a confluence of anniversaries and events make this the right time for the Rocket Boys themselves to bow out. 2019 marks the 20th anniversary of Homer Hickam’s classic “Rocket Boys” becoming a New York Times #1 bestseller. 2019 is also the 20th anniversary of the release of the movie “October Sky” based on Hickam’s celebrated coming of age memoir, as well as the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 astronauts moon landing.

L-R- Homer, Quentin Wilson, Roy Lee Cooke, O’Dell Carroll with Auk Rocket Mockup

2019 also marks the passing of a key member of the Rocket Boys legacy. This year’s festival is dedicated to the memory of Quentin Wilson, the “prodigious scientific brain” of the Rocket Boys, who died August 30th at his home in Texas.

Added Hill, “Homer and many of the other Rocket Boys have been traveling back every year to support the festival and meet fans of their story, and that travel is getting tougher each year. People come to West Virginia literally from all over the world to meet and spend time with the Rocket Boys. If you’ve been touched by their story, this will be your final opportunity to meet the Rocket Boys here in person”Quentin was featured prominently in Hickam’s best selling books “Rocket Boys” and “The Coalwood Way” and portrayed by actor Chris Owen in the film “October Sky”. Homer said of his Big Creek High School friend “I was devastated to learn Quentin Wilson, the brains behind our success during high school and one of my best friends ever, has passed on to that great launchpad in the sky. He taught me the word “Prodigious” and indeed lived a prodigious life. My condolences to his wife Janice and his family. My only consolation is that Mom up in heaven will be happy to see him. She loved Quentin so much and now he’s with her. “

Festival Special Features
The Rocket Boys Festival kicks off Thursday evening September 26th with an appearance by another West Virginian who is well known on the movie screen. Filmmaker and Beckley WV native Morgan Spurlock, perhaps best known for his Academy Award-nominated documentary “Super Size Me” will host a screening of the long-awaited sequel “Super Size Me 2-Holy Chicken!” at the H.C. Smith Theatre at Tamarack in Beckley at 7pm on Thursday the 26th. He’ll take questions and meet moviegoers in person after the screening. Friday, September 27th, Hickam will spend the morning speaking to hundreds of students who will come to the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine Amphitheater from all over the region. Those talks are free and open to students and schools, and can be scheduled by contacting festival director Scott Hill at http://www.rocketboysfestival.com. Friday afternoon, Homer will host a “Storyteller’s Workshop” at Tamarack. Along with Homer, theatrical storyteller Rhayne Thomas, musical storyteller Jon Wikstrom and broadcaster, public speaker and Rocket Boys Festival director Scott Hill and others will add their thoughts on the art of telling a great story.

On Friday evening, Rocket Boys fans can experience the one-time-only event “Homer Hickam-Stories and Songs” at Historic Black Knight Municipal Park. Hickam will share behind the scenes stories and readings from “Rocket Boys”, interwoven with key songs from “Rocket Boys the Musical”, performed by Las Vegas entertainer and show cast member Rhayne Thomas (Elsie) alongside Broadway veteran and “Rocket Boys The Musical” co-creator Carl Anthony Tramon (Sonny). As a special bonus, singer/songwriter Jon Wikstrom will debut a new musical tribute to Homer’s latest international bestseller CARRYING ALBERT HOME, which has been translated into over two dozen languages.

Advance tickets for the “Super Size Me 2-Holy Chicken!” screening, the “Storytellers Workshop” and “Homer Hickam-Songs and Stories” are limited and can be purchased in advance at http://www.rocketboysfestival.com.

Saturday, September 28th’s Rocket Boys/October Sky Festival central location is Beckley’s New River Park, which boasts an authentic exhibition working coal mine that will be open for discounted tours, taking riders on a motorized tour 1,500 feet underground. The park also features an award-winning youth museum and planetarium, great Appalachian food, a complete full-size replica of a 1950’s mining town like Hickam’s Coalwood, a miner’s museum and more. A “Rocket Run” 5K and 10K race, “Aim High” essay contest, food vendors and more will also be a part of this year’s festival. Opening ceremonies begin at 9 am and the festival will run till 5 pm Saturday.

One of the Rocket Boys/October Sky Festival highlights is the dozens of students from schools all over America who join Hickam to launch rockets at New River Park’s hilltop “Cape Coalwood” launchpad. Rocket kits and launch supplies will be available at the festival; parents are encouraged to bring their kids to launch rockets, even if they’re not affiliated with a particular group. Construction and launch is easy – even for first-timers.

About Homer Hickam: 
Homer Hickam has authored 19 best-selling books including Rocket Boys, several set in his native West Virginia. After graduating from Big Creek High School, Homer served his country in the Vietnam War and eventually achieved his dream of working for NASA as an engineer and astronaut trainer both in the U.S. and abroad. This year, Hickam served as the board chairman at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville Alabama for the 50th-anniversary festivities of the Apollo 11 moon landing. He also is a member of the United States Space Council and testified before Congress advocating for a return to the moon.

Each year, Hickam has happily signed hundreds of copies of his books at the festival while chatting with fans from all over the world, some of whom have traveled thousands of miles to meet him and see the West Virginia hills where he grew up. Hickam says this year’s Rocket Boys Festival will be bittersweet.

“It has been my honor to attend and support the Rocket Boys Festival for over twenty years, first in Coalwood and now Beckley. I will always be grateful to the people of Beckley for their willingness to do the hard work necessary to keep alive the Rocket Boys’ story of inspiration and hope.”

Hickam’s longtime publicist Burke Allen says that previous year’s Rocket Boys Festivals have featured special guests including several Hollywood stars from the cast of the “October Sky” movie, NASA shuttle astronauts Thomas Jones and Bill Readdy, and famous musicians including the event appropriate “Bill Haley’s Comets” and America’s Got Talent winner Landau Eugene Murphy Jr, and they’re proud to welcome Morgan Spurlock to the list of special guest attendees.

He added that “many people don’t know this, but “Rocket Boys” has for years now been the most read book in U.S. public schools and many other countries around the world, and the movie “October Sky” has been shown pretty much non-stop in schools and on TV since its release twenty years ago.”

More information on the Rocket Boys/October Sky Festival, including links to the ticketed events, a complete festival schedule of events and more is available at www.rocketboysfestival.com. Beckley WV is located on Interstate 64 in southern West Virginia and is also accessible via Beckley/Raleigh County Airport with daily non-stop flights to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport as well as Amtrak service on the New York to Chicago Cardinal line.

Another Thumbs Up for Mine 9 – National Post

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Fantastic review in National Post (Canada) for Mine 9 https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/movies/chris-knight-mine-9-is-a-subterranean-drama-with-all-the-classical-elements-of-a-thriller

9 Coal Miners, 2 Miles Underground, 1 Hour Of Oxygen Left To Survive. A Film About Tragedy, Terror, And Survival

Variety calls Mine 9 “cannily made survival drama… with honesty and conviction!”

The Hollywood Reporter says Mine 9 is “a claustrophobic you-are-there account of a coal mine!”

Official website: http://www.mine9movie.com
Official trailer: https://vimeo.com/294807332

 

Independent filmmaker, Eddie Mensore’s ‘Mine 9’ is getting a big thumbs up and enjoying rave reviews by moviegoers and film critics alike. Inspired by true events, the story of nine Appalachian coal miners trapped 2 miles underground after a methane explosion with one hour of oxygen left to survive, recently won Best Ensemble Cast Award, Best Feature Film (Thriller) and Best Director Award at Bare Bones International Film Festival. It received Grand Prize at the Arizona International Film Festival and Best Feature at the Cinequest San Jose Film Festival.

There have also been glowing reviews from Matt Zoller Seitz of Roger Ebert fame; “By the end, you’re so invested in the well-being of these men that you may wish the story had continued a bit further…” and from John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter; “These men have experience and endurance to offer, but the movie knows their fate is mostly beyond their control. It asks us to fight off panic alongside them…”

 

This claustrophobic thriller is about this close-knit group of veteran coal miners who begin what seems like a normal day of work, not knowing that danger was lurking below. As they descend into the earth, the rain pouring down several miles above them, they tease a new miner with tales of ghosts and scary stories about the mine. Little did they know that one of them could become the subject of new ghost stories told to new miners in years to come.

 

Writer, director, and producer Eddie Mensore brings us this heart-stopping story of tragedy, terror and survival. In Appalachia, coal mining towns are filled with brave men and women who risk their lives every day to put food on their families’ tables. Everyone knows the risk, everyone knows the danger, and everyone hopes their loved one comes home alive. Coal mining in Appalachia, dubbed The Devil’s Playground, is dangerous business and Mine 9 gives you an up-close look at just how real and dangerous it can be when safety concerns are ignored and warnings fall on deaf ears.

Starring Terry Serpico, Kevin Sizemore, Mark Ashworth, and including breakout performances from Clint James, Drew Starkey and Erin Elizabeth Burns, ‘Mine 9’ is sure to have you on the edge of your seat, your heart racing, and caring about what happens to these men who risk their lives on a fairly regular basis.

Former ladies of The Supremes at Oak Leaf Festival

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Susaye Greene and Scherrie Payne, the former ladies of the Supremes along with Joyce Vincent  were live at Lively Amphitheater in downtown Oak Hill WV, as part of the OAK LEAF FESTIVAL. 

WOAY TV – https://woay.tv/former-members-of-the-supremes-arrive-for-oak-leaf-festival/

WVNS TV – https://www.wvnstv.com/news/former-ladies-of-the-supremes-set-to-perform-at-the-oak-leaf-festival/

 

 

Recession – CEO of Kendall Capital on Fox 5 DC

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Fears of a brewing global recession continue as markets react to President Donald Trump’s trade war with China plus disappointing recent economic data from both Germany and China.

What is in store for you and other everyday Americans?

AMS client and CEO of WashingtonD.C based financial management firm Kendall Capital, #ClarkKendall on Fox 5 DC‘s Morning News Sunday talking about this relevant topic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QizgFP0SzkM&t=2s