Gretchen Wilson

On June 26, 1973, Gretchen was born to a 16 year old mother in Pocahontas, Illinois. Before Gretchen was 2, her fother left her mother. Her mother and her lived in trailer parks and relative poverty. Gretchen's mother was a waitress. When Gretchen was in the ninth grade, she dropped out of school, working as a cook and bartender.
At the age of 17, Gretchen started singing in small bars around St. Louis, Missouri. In 1991, Susie Osburn, a bar manager from Springfield, Missouri, went to St. Louis, looking for a new band for her bar (Townhouse). Susie stumbled upon Gretchen, offering Gretchen the job. Gretchen played at the Townhouse for two years then moved back to Pocahontas. After a failed marriage to former bandmate, Larry Rolens, Gretchen moved to Nashville.
Gretchen started dating Mike Penner. On Novermber 9, 2001, a daughter, Grace Frances Penner, was born to them.

Albums:

• Here For The Party-This album came out with Epic Records in 2003. The first single coming from this album was 'Redneck Woman'. The song was the first number one hit by a woman in two years. The next single hit coming from this album was 'Here For The Party'.
• All Jacked Up-Came out on September 27, 2005, 'All Jacked Up' (the song) peaked at #8 on the Hot Country Songs. Three more singles came from this album 'I Don't Feel Like Loving You Today', 'Politically Uncorrect' (featuring Merle Haggard), and 'California Girls'. None of the three made it to the Top 20 on the country charts.
• One Of The Boys-This album came out on May 15, 2007. It debuted at #5 on the Top 200 and #1 on the Country album Chart. After 10 weeks, the album went bye-bye from the Billboard Top 200. The first to singles released from this album were 'Come To Bed' (featured John Rich) and 'One Of The Boys'. Both peaked in the thirties on the country charts while the final single 'You Don't Have To Go Home' failed to reach the Top 40.
• I Got Your Country Right Here-Was released on July 14, 2008 with the first single 'Don't Do Me No Good'. The song failed to reach the Top 40.
• Don't Make Me Take My Earrings Out-Came out in March of this year with the release of her song with the same name. The song is also referred to as 'The Earring Song'.

Awards:

• 2005 CMA Female Vocalist of the Year
• 2004 ACM Top Female Vocalist
• 2004 ACM Top New Artist
• 2004 CMA Horizon Award
• 2004 Grammy Award Best Female Country Vocal Performance

Resources:

Gretchen Wilson (Wikipedia)

Gretchen Wilson Official Website

The Rat Patrol (TV series)

'The Rat Patrol' aired on ABC during 1966-1968. It is about the exloits of four allied soldiers (3 Americans and 1 British). They were part of a long range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during World War 2.

The show was inspired by and loosely modelled on the New Zealand/British/Rhodesian Long Range Desert Group. The title of the program refers to the nick names given to some of the small desert groups like 'Rats of Tobruk' and 'Desert Rats'.

Cast

Christopher George played Sgt. Sam Troy, who was the units leader.

Gary Raymond played Sgt. Jack Moffitt, who is the only British member of the patrol. The Character Sgt. Moffitt was the expert on the desert and on the local Arab Tribes, which inhabited it. Moffitt speaks fleunt German and Arabic, as well as able to read some dead, ancient languages.

Lawerence Carey played Pvt. Mark T. Hitchcock. The patrol calls him 'Hitch'. Hitchcock is a Ivy League college man turned soldier. If you watched a few episodes you'll noticed Hitchcock often chews bubblegum.

Justin Tarr playes Pvt. Tully Pettigrew. Troy calls Tully one of the army's best wheelman. The story of Tully is he grew up in Kentucky and gained his driving skell by running moonshine.

Hans Gudegast (now known as Eric Braedon) played the character of Houptmann Hans Duietrich. Dietrich is a dedicated, honorable German officer. He is the Rat Patrol's main nemesis.

During the second season, the storyline required the absence of Tully for a few episodes. Three different characters took turns rounding out the team Tully's absence.

• Peterson-Darwin Joston


• Andy-Mac McLaughlin


• Bo Randall-Bo Hopkins

Facts About The Production:

• 'The Rat Patrol' was filmed in Almeria, Spain during part of the first season.


• The threes part storyline of 'The Last Harbor Raid' was released in some venues as 'Massacre Harbor'.


• After the first season, each major cast member was shown a prospective script in which he was killed in action to prevent the actors fro asking for raises.


• A jeep overturned, injurying Christopher George. The injury lead to a bad heart that contributed to his subsequent death.


• As was the norm for low-cost productions, other equipment was substituted for original ones. The German vehicles were substituted with American Patton tanks, M7 Priest self-propelled guns, M3 half-track and M35 2 1/2 ton cargo trucks were painted in desert sand colors.


• The submachine guns used by the squad by the squad were props meant to look-like assault rifles or Thompson submachine guns.


• Sgt. Troy wor a slouch hat during the series. When 'The Rat Patrol aired in Australia, veterans of both World Wars were critical of Christopher George wearing an important symbol of Australian courage and sacrifice. It was seen as cheaping and sensationalizing the memory and spirit of the ANZACs, who died fighting Fascism. Christopher George, who was of Greek extraction, insisted his character wear the slouch hat to honor the Australians, who fought in Greece.

The Rat Patrol-All Jacked Up

This video is one of the first few I did. I was surfing through You Tube for some old time TV series I watch when I was younger. "The Rat Patrol" was one of those series I was looking. As I surfed for "The Rat Patrol", I noticed there was no music videos for this TV series like "Combat", Alias Smith And Jones", etc. I decided to be the first to do a music video on the "The Rat Patrol". I tried my luck. I used the song "All Jacked Up" sung by Gretchen Wilson because in the clips I couldn't help but thinks these guys were all jacked up and ready to go. This is what I came up with.