Text Box: Seattle Western Swing Music Society News May 2005 Skip and B.J. Sign Off by Darrell Anderson They came to celebrate the life of a man and his bird. The scene took place in the tranquil and serene setting of the Priest Point Park rose garden near Olympia on April 2, 2005. The man was Skip Marrow. The bird was his friend and mascot, B. J., a 23 year old cockatoo. Skip ran radio station KBRD out of his home in Olympia. You could hear records from the 20's through the 50's. In a 10-minute segment you might hear Roy Acuff, Stan Kenton, Guy Lombardo and Kate Smith. This could be followed by the Hoosier Hotshots, Bob Wills, or the Fleetwoods. Sitting on a perch watching over all this was B.J., the "K-BIRD." Skip called him the "President and CEO" of KBRD. Cartons of records were stacked on the floor. Every nook and corner was filled with CD's LP's and computers. You gingerly made your way past all the boxes to the automated computer that kept the music going, even when Marrow was away. Skip died on March 23 of cancer and leukemia. He died in his sleep with KBRD playing. As he slowly deteriorated, BJ also began to fade. Cockatoos bond to their master and no one else. He began pulling out his feathers as he mourned Skip. They were both cremated. During the gathering in the rose garden, a lot of Skip Marrow stories were related by his friends. (He had no relatives, never married.) Following a potluck there was music by Gretchen Christopher, founder of the group The Fleetwoods. Songs included "Autumn Gold," "Graduation's Here," "Come Softly To Me," "Tragedy," and "Everything Good in My Life" in which she also danced. All of the songs except "Tragedy" were written by Gretchen and are on her new CD "Gretchen's Sweet Sixteen." She was assisted by John Worsley and Elsa Dorian (backup singers on her new CD and part of the West Coast Fleetwoods). Skip's dying wish was for the station to go on forever. It may do just that under the new manager Adrian DeBee. You won't find this music anyplace else. KBRD is 680 on the AM dial. The sister station KLDY (Classical) is 1280 AM.