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The Van Jones Show
People on a Mission. Aired 9:00-10:00p ET.
Aired May 21, 2015 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE ROWE, "SOMEBODY'S GOTTA DO IT" HOST: I'm Mike Rowe. And I'm on a mission to find people on a mission.
Oh, in the scale of 1 to 10, how much do you like what you do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 25.
ROWE: Here we go.
What are they doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fricking no.
ROWE: Oh, they're doing it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we do...
ROWE: And why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like to make things that make people smile.
ROWE: It's very fricking exciting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, Mike, we got to do it.
ROWE: I dare you to turn the channel.
On this episode, I'm gonna build a bridge capable of supporting 70 tons, in less than an hour. This is like (inaudible) grown ups, and I'm going to do it while people are shooting at me.
Of course, I'll have a little help from the Seabees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fire.
ROWE: The Navy Contraction Force that you should know a lot more about.
Then...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's perfect. ROWE: A man who is deeply committed to medieval warfare, address to the right if anybody cares, wants to fight me with a long sword. That will be fun.
I can't see.
And later, if you ever get a chance to cruise around town with a famous rider who died in 1849...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) and nothing more.
ROWE: I recommend it. We call this encounter Rowe meets (inaudible).
(OFF-MIKE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWE: It's a miserable day in Mississippi, but the conditions are perfect for a training mission with the Navy Seabees.
The plan is to meet them at their camp sites, and help them build a bridge.
These are really functional bridges.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ROWE: All part of an exercise.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Its -- they're going to build essentially the type of bridge that they would build and real world scenario.
ROWE: So when they're done they leave, the bridge stays.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: oh, sorry, no.
ROWE: So, they're taking the bridge?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. Yeah.
ROWE: Is this their camp? Is this where they live around?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe so. I mean, I don't want to tell you, do you know answer to that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they can't be train right now, they are in the -- this is like a deployment mission scenario, it's obviously to go in, build a camp, yes, secure a parameter, build box holes, you know, be on alert, and they've have the -- people, they go around and they essentially grade the performance to see how they react everything, making sure they follow the protocol.
ROWE: As usual, Taylor (ph) is better prepared that I am. But the bigger question is, who exactly are the Seabees? In a nutshell, they're construction workers with guns, who just happen to work for the Navy. They're plumbers, electricians, masons, carpenters and engineers. They go in right after the Marines have taken the beach to make everything work.
According to their motto, "The Seabees build and the Seabees fight". And according to history, they've live up to their motto.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: We're the Seabees of there Navy.
ROWE: (Born out) on the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Seabees have been around since World War II.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Navy created Seabee whose answer always is, "can do".
ROWE: They've build airfields in the South Pacific and hospitals in Africa and lots of what I'm seeing today, a forward operating base camp, much like the ones they constructed in Afghanistan
What's up, guys?
In short, the Seabees are the skilled (inaudible) of the Arm Forces. And in such, they have some interesting ranks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, sir.
ROWE: How are you?
ANNIE KUHN, BUILDER 3RD CLASS: BU3 Kuhn, (inaudible) platoon.
ROWE: B3?
KUHN: BU3.
ROWE: BU? What it is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a Builder 3rd Class.
ROWE: Builder. BU.
KUHN: Yes. Builder 3rd Class, E4.
ROWE: What do you build?
KUHN: That behind you, sir. The (inaudible) we just constructed yesterday. All the (inaudible) we did it.
ROWE: They keep you busy.
KUHN: Very busy, sir.
ROWE: All right, great. What's that?
KUHN: We got a box full of goodies for you sir.
ROWE: Oh, thanks.
KUHN: All yours. Nice comfortable gear that we could issues. This is here for you.
ROWE: Oh, this is like Christmas.
KUHN: Right, sir. Steel toe boots.
ROWE: Great.
KUHN: Vest.
ROWE: Look at that, you got my name on everything. This is what, 30 pounds?
KUHN: Easily. Vest, blouse, (inaudible), all for you.
ROWE: Great. Where do I go? We'll just do it right here?
KUHN: That's your tent right there.
If you laid down, it's a whole lot easier.
ROWE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Plenty of room in there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is we can get.
[21:05:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, try doing it in the dark.
ROWE: These guys have been out here training, 24 hours a day, in cold, in the mud, in the rain for two weeks. We send our camera crew last night to see what they were up to. And the mission was to construct a centri-bunker (ph), man the bunker and secure a parameter around the camp. Then depend it against enemy attack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're dead.
ROWE: Or, in this case, get killed while trying to defend it.
Today's mission is to build a bridge over an impasse (ph) so heavy gear can get to a vertical takeoff and land excitement. My guys are just part of the mission who is Chief Equipment Operator Lee Wood.
How long you've been in?
LEE WOOD, CHIEF EQUIPMENT OPERATOR: 15 years, sir.
ROWE: Oh, yeah?
WOOD: Yes, sir.
(OFF-MIKE) WOOD: Oh yes. These are this people, right here. This is what motivates me.
ROWE: And why do you turn in this particular way? It's obviously, there's a (inaudible) world.
WOOD: Yes. We train this way so that once we go anywhere, we need to be somethings happens, we know how to bail out and protect everybody. We're hauling bridge material, we're hauling the personnel for the bridge material, we're hauling their water, we're hauling food, their clothes, their tent, everything they need to sustain themselves.
ROWE: Which is why this convoy needs to expect the unexpected...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're on fire, we're on fire, we're on fire.
ROWE: The military takes simulations very seriously, which is why I always feel a little out of place being drop in the middle of war (ph) basically, I'm baggage. I know the guns are firing blanks, I know that guy is not really dead. But these guys, through the whole process as absolutely real, partly because their being evaluated and partly because it's their best hope of surviving a real world ambush.
The enemies are soon vanquish and be embedded knuckle head is escorted back to safety.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good.
ROWE: Crap. And when the smoke clears, I'm now being escorted by Lieutenant JG Sasser.
JG SASSER, LIEUTENANT JUNIOR GRADE: Will you survive?
ROWE: I think so. Everything is still attached.
The lieutenant is going to leave me and the sailors (ph) in this truck on the actual bridge building part of the mission, and I will enlist lieutenants in building a bridge to the next, back to the show.
ROWE: Why don't you give us enough break?
SASSER: What it is so (inaudible)...
ROWE: You need to say something, right now, lieutenant which going to make the casual viewer think, "My God, I'd a fool to turn the channel". What's coming up looks so damned exciting? I can barely wait to see it. So for instance, if could be something like, when we comeback there's going to be more gunfire, "who knows if the rain is going to stop, the stakes are high and so am I", something stupid like that.
SASSER: All right. So when we get that, we're going to outside of this (money miss) and erect the bridge and knock out the mission.
ROWE: And other words, stay tuned for erection. You see what I did?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:10:00]
ROWE: Well, if you're just joining us, we're at the Camp Shelby right now with some Seabees. We're trying to make our way to a location where we can build a bridge. But you haven't notice, it's still raining, and cold, and muddy and all in all, I think the Seabees would describe it. And don't quote me. I don't know if this is an acronym or not but I believe the expression.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: We're the Seabees of the Navy. We can build and we can fight.
ROWE: One way to lift your spirits as you're making way through a mission is by singing the Seabee Song.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: ... victory and guard it day and night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey, hey.
ROWE: Remember that little tune, early on in the show, well, it was written by a pair of Tin Pan Alley songwriters a couple of years after the Seabees were founded. It was even recorded by Judy Garland back in 1944, although it's hard to compete with this version.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Bees of the seven seas.
ROWE: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, do you have a call sign yet?
ROWE: I don't have a call sign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't have a call sign. When we're on the radio, we can't say your name.
ROWE: What?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't let the enemy know who we are.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (inaudible) this call sign is. Bilbo, as in Bilbo Baggins.
ROWE: Oh my God. How did you get that? I can't see it but (inaudible), oh you can stand up I here, I got it.
So, I need a call sign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
(OFF-MIKE)
ROWE: (Francis)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's rough, man
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have any defying features.
ROWE: I froze my toe and to this day, if I try and curl my toes on my right foot, my middle toe goes dead left, (inaudible) just like total freak show.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How about...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dead left, it is.
ROWE: Dead left.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. It is, dead left.
ROWE: It's just like that. Well, dead left.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dismount.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dismount. Dismount.
ROWE: So now, it's time for old dead left to pitch in and help build a bridge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Break through on me. Let's go.
ROWE: In front of an audience, it seems that may or may not approve.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody see what's going on. You got to build (ph) into the site, so stay vigilant.
ROWE: So, what's this signifying?
SASSER: Right now, we just shown up to the site where we'll helping out the local populate. It appears they're doing some sort of protest. Probably, they don't understand why we're here...
ROWE: Right.
SASSER: ... or they don't want us here. But we still have a mission to do. They don't appear to have any weapons or post any threat so we're going to carry on.
ROWE: And that's typical in which you'd run into out and wherever?
SASSER: Absolutely. Absolutely.
ROWE: How are you?
(OFF-MIKE)
ROWE: "Somebody's Got to Do It", Thursdays at 9:00.
This is the job. This is the task. Our forces need to get from here to there. The Seabees have to come in and build a bridge. Everything else is a simulation.
So, how do you build a very sturdy bridge in under an hour?
Bilbo's got a bridge building manual and this chart goes in specifically which he sees (ph) he needs.
KYLE "BILBO" SAYLOR, BUILDER 1ST CLASS: This shows the (inaudible) build, right? So, we're going to go to A.
ROWE: Well, according to the book, we're basically building a big metal box that is something called a bunk (ph) Seabee on a each end, connected by six interlocking base.
[21:00:00] Then, a piece called a light launch nose (ph) is attached to the box to give it length. Then, the whole thing is shoved across the gap on a series roller beams. In theory, it's pretty simple. In reality, it's an hour of back-breaking work.
(OFF-MIKE)
ROWE: In a foot of Mississippi mud.
Absolute topographical nightmare.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One, two, three.
ROWE: Is this the roller -- this is the roller thing, right? The roller bar?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The next piece is the bunk (ph) Seabees.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ready? . ROWE: Bringing the nose.
All right, so that's the light launch nose (ph). One of the bunks remains steady.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that very (inaudible).
ROWE: You can see how crazy dangerous this is. It's just slicker (ph) that's not out here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To pad (ph) lock. There it is.
ROWE: This is like an erect (inaudible) grown ups now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is not light.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let it go. Let it go. So, this is your landing roller.
ROWE: This guy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. You got to step on that launch nose (ph) and then walk across.
ROWE: Step on the launch nose (ph). I got it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just got to make sure we don't fall on the gap.
ROWE: No. I'm not going to fall in the gap.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, last time we build this bridge, I feel in the water at our training site.
ROWE: Oh, my God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See you got long legs. That's it. Turn around and walk over, I've got the launch nose (ph).
ROWE: I could have gone really, really wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's up a little bit.
Right in foot step. Lower it. All right. We're good. Now, we're going to push.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roll the bridge.
How we looking, sailors?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're good.
ROWE: We're building a bridge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, as bridges landed, you can add the ramps on each side. Once the ramps are added, then, you add the decks and the curve, and the bridge is finish.
ROWE: That's really heavy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Careful.
ROWE: OK. So the bridge is done but that just means the mission continues on the other side of the bridge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We completed the bridge and now, we have to clear the field so we're going in with weapons. We don't like to fight but sometimes you got to and then, we will be a reacting. So (inaudible) that happens, we'll have you go out there with the stretcher, pick up that person, bring him back.
ROWE: If I learned anything about simulations, it's that, if, usually means when?
See. What I tell you.
(OFF-MIKE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Move. Move. Move. ROWE: The Seabees also have to do some basic medical training.
There's also, it requires if you're volunteer victims, we're committed to making things as real as possible.
Holy crap.
(CROSSTALK)
ROWE: And this guy is really committed. He is good.
Seriously, if there will be award for this, I nominate him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't lift me, be strong for yourself.
It's hurt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know it hurts. I know it hurts. We'll get it -- we'll get you help and we get you out of here. Do you hear me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty much dangerous.
ROWE: Really, it goes for him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:20:00]
ROWE: The Seabees are quite possibly the least heralded group of our military heroes. They can build a bridge, they can defend the bridge, they can save your life, just to ask Jose Colon-Rosario.
Mr. Jose, he was playing the part of one of the victims. May I say, sir, that was that was an amazing performance.
JOSE COLON-ROSARIO, ACTOR: Oh thank you, sir.
ROWE: I mean you scared the hell out of me. Do you do this a lot?
COLON-ROSARIO: I've been doing this for about 10 years plus I was also spent 21 years in the military.
ROWE: What branch?
COLON-ROSARIO: Army. I was in a Special Forces.
ROWE: Yeah.
COLON-ROSARIO: Yes sir.
ROWE: Let's say you must really love the military, 21 years in Special Forces you finally get out and now you're doing this.
COLON-ROSARIO: It's a way to keep something back.
ROWE: How cold are you right now?
COLON-ROSARIO: I'm cold. I need a cup of coffee.
ROWE: So you can tell the guys up here putting the curves on the bridge. We're close, man, we're getting close.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. One, two, three lift go.
ROWE: So (inaudible), this is the -- this is the part where I guess where we see if works.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is correct.
ROWE: I think it worked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We successfully launch your first bridge.
ROWE: That's the official (inaudible) build, I launched it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You launched it.
ROWE: I launch the bridge.
To sum up, "The Seabees build, the Seabees fight".
The Seabees have their own song and without them our military would have a serious infrastructure problem, just ask Commodore John Adametz, who commands all East Coast base Seabees as well as the battalion I've been in the mud with.
JOHN ADAMETZ, COMMODORE: We've been at it since World War II. We were hired originally to reclaim the Pacific through logistics support from the building base camps, and air fields, and every major conflict. Since then, we've been building and fighting. Whatever the mission is we can adapt and we can do anything from peace time operations where we going to a village in the build a water well or clinic, and shape the hearts and minds, and influence that way or we can survive a major combat operation as well.
Their adversaries, they can have a lot of forces they can have equipment. One of the things that it's hard to replicate is there are culture and our "can-do" spirit and...
ROWE: Good man. You got that by yourself (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Hora (ph).
ROWE: Hora (ph). All right, you're still there.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah.
[21:00:00] ROWE: Well, I mean is that, just careful with the guns and what not...
The cloying (ph) of armor, the caress of steel, two knights meets on the field of battle to settle a question of honor, where in the year of our lord 2015 does a man finds an opponent with such skill, such chivalry, and such a magnificent copies. Well, in a strip mall about an hour south of San Francisco, naturally, that's where you'll find the Davenriche European Martial Arts School and its founder Steaphen Fick.
Steaphen is an epic swordsman and an expert in what might be the next big craze in martial arts long sword fighting.
Today he's going to teach me how sword fight and then I'm going to fight him in a suit of armor.
STEAPHEN FICK, FOUNDER, DAVENRICHE MARTIAL ARTS SCHOOL: Hi, I'm Steaphen.
ROWE: Mike. How are you?
FICK: Pleasure to meet you.
ROWE: Likewise. The official name of the school?
FICK: Davenriche European Martial Arts School.
ROWE: How many people you train?
FICK: We have over 100 students here I'm one of the largest western martial arts schools in the world. We have medieval track which is like the long sword.
ROWE: Yeah.
FICK: And an armored combat.
What I'm probably going to do is, I'm probably going to put in this suit because I think that will fits you well and you'll have the full thing on head to toe.
ROWE: Gees, how do you see out of that?
It's perfect.
Based on the collection of medieval weapons, Steap has on hand, it's easy to see why a knight would need armor. They all seem designed for maximum glory. Oh dear.
FICK: I like to think of this is a medieval can opener.
ROWE: It's just unthinkable the level of savagery and horror that must have been.
FICK: And do to that it all happens right here at this range.
ROWE: Right. How do you think you would have done back there?
FICK: I'm pretty tough. I don't think I would have lasted the whole long time.
ROWE: Stepping into Steap's world is like stepping back into medieval times there are kings.
FICK: This in way I like to teach you.
ROWE: That's the way I like to eat.
And characters...
FICK: We call him Chris (ph) the knife.
ROWE: He's got a knife.
FICK: Oh no he's got knives everywhere.
ROWE: And lot of sharp things to play with.
FICK: Hey.
ROWE: Oh.
FICK: Nice job.
ROWE: Oh he stuck right in there.
But forget all of that, I'm here to learn the long sword, three feet of razor edge, meat-cleaving, bone-breaking steel.
FICK: Let me ask you a question?
ROWE: Yeah.
FICK: How heavy do you think swords are?
ROWE: This is 7.5 pounds.
FICK: No, 3.5 pounds.
ROWE: No.
FICK: Yeah.
ROWE: Seems I like it should be so much heavier.
FICK: These swords were not giant tied irons that the biggest guys swung at each others head. They're precision cuttings tools, they were a little bit shaper than a butter knife. But if I have 3.5 pound butter knife that I have been training with for 25 years, it will take off body parts, no problem.
ROWE: Oh that's great news. Steap can chop my arm off whenever he feels like it, super. It should be a fun day.
FICK: You ready to do some training?
ROWE: Yes.
FICK: All right. And let's get a steel sword. ROWE: All right. Let's do that.
FICK: Well, not that sword that's mine.
ROWE: Oh, sorry.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:30:00]
ROWE: So I'm at the Davenriche Martial Arts School, little south of San Francisco. And its owner Steaphen Fick is about to teach me how to fight with the longsword.
FICK: I started fighting in 1989. Why do you think you need to fight in armor with metal swords?
We study from the manuscript that was written in 1409. By an Italian sword master called Fiore dei Liberi. He was 70 years old when he wrote this manuscript.
ROWE: He live the longtime.
FICK: In 1409. So, he is a professional sword fighter and soldier, who live till the age of 70, at least, and be able to write this book for his lord.
ROWE: Unheard of.
This sword fighting man, well, he survived for 600 years. Has a lot of the terminology, much of which we still use today.
So you never heard he face the (inaudible) someone?
ROWE: (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
ROWE: So it's to beat them into submission.
FICK: Until they agree with you, right?
ROWE: Yeah.
FICK: This is my pommel. This is my noun. My verb is to pommel.
On the sword, the bottom third of my blade is called the forte. The middle third is called the mezza, and the top third is called the foible.
This is my strength. I defend with my forte. I offend with my foible. Have you heard the g(inaudible) heel?
ROWE: Yeah.
FICK: That means... ROWE: That's way up to the heel.
FICK: That means that I hit him so hard.
ROWE: But it goes all the way in...
FICK: To the heel.
ROWE: Yeah.
FICK: All right. Let's go and learn some guard, shall we?
ROWE: Let's do that.
FICK: Put your left foot forward. Yeah, the left.
ROWE: All right.
FICKL: All right. So left foot forward, sword down right the middle, middle iron door.
ROWE: Middle iron door.
FICK: Yeah. Now, pull your right over back, so your point comes in the side of your body. Open iron door.
ROWE: Open iron door.
FICK: Tail-guard.
ROWE: Tail?
FICK: Tail. Coda lunga e distesa, tail-guard.
ROWE: Tail or tell?
FICK: T-A-I-L, tail.
ROWE: Not funny.
FICK: This is called crown -guard, posta frontale o corona.
Woman's guard.
ROWE: Woman's guard?
FICK: You had to (inaudible) pulling behind the back.
ROWE: OK.
FICK: I didn't name it. I didn't name it.
ROWE: I reviewed.
FICK: This final guard, ready?
Take it away. Very good.
It's called guard of the heels
ROWE: So that's the defense, how about a little offense.
FICK: But the (inaudible) right there is called the fendente. Can you say that?
ROWE: Fendente.
FICK: Fendente, it means tooth breaker. We going to him so hard on the head, we're going to stop somewhere on the feet.
ROWE: Fendente.
FICK: I come through here and you're going to come down but then you're going to go for my leg.
ROWE: Right.
FICK: It's been the step forward, take it aside, and take your head off.
ROWE: Oh damn it. I like my head.
FICK: Remember, you kill him once, you can humiliate them over and over again.
[21:35:00] ROWE: Speaking of humiliation my training, such as it was, is over. It's time now to fight.
All right so, we start with less comfortable (ph), we go out to the field...
FICK: And we're going to gear up and we're going to put you in the tournament first.
All right. Let's come on over and get you suited up.
Now, the canvass (ph) (inaudible) has chain mail under the armpits. These are called boiders (ph) because when you're in armor, I can hit you all I want with my sword. It does no good. You're only way to really hurt the guy that inside the armor, is find the holes and stab them.
The face is the eyes, the throat, the armpits, the inside, the inside of the elbow, the groin, the butt and the back of the knee.
ROWE: Have you put it in the butt before.
FICK: Yeah. It surprises them.
ROWE: It's got to.
It smells like victory.
A brace, a brace squires (ph). I dressed to the right if anybody cares.
FICK: Because skirts are sexy. You got a skirt.
ROWE: All right. So the squire reigning was, no kidding, critical.
FICK: Yes. Not only does the squire put you in and take you out, he gets the queen at all. And let's think about what you think about what he is cleaning you've just been in the fight so there is mud, blood, vomit, intestines, piss...
ROWE: It could be yours or the opponents?
FICK: Perhaps, yeah. Pisses because when you of in the battles...
ROWE: But and again not opening -- you're talking about releasing the bowels or having your bowels open?
FICK: Both. One of the things about armor which makes a little more difficult now a days, that's the reason you put an armor. It seems like you have to...
ROWE: I got to pee.
FICK: You got to pee.
ROWE: I could pee right now.
FICK: Just the way it goes. All right.
ROWE: Maybe I will.
FICK: No.
ROWE: This is my armor.
FICK: There you go. All right.
ROWE: Now, in the C (ph) world, we call this chest protector but you call a...
FICK: Cuirass.
ROWE: Of course. Oh...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Squire. We had a problem just below the cuirass.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, don't worry...
ROWE: And the general vicinity of skirt.
FICK: Now, these are called pauldrons, right?
ROWE: Yeah, really?
FICK: Then our gaunlets. One of the sexiest look there is.
This is a bassinet, with a hat. I bassinet is a thing for your baby. Well, what is your head?
ROWE: My baby.
FICK: Yeah. Here we go.
ROWE: This is unthinkable. It's unthinkable.
FICK: No, this is common.
There you go.
ROWE: I mean these guys have actually in this?
FICK: And then to be a knight, you have to show that you can lift on to the back of your horse in full armor.
Oh, every Wednesday we get into armor and we train in armor. And at the end of the day, we lay down on the ground and you have to pop up three times.
ROWE: I'm cool.
FICK: Now get up. Now, you're going to do what I call popping up, well, that was pretty good.
ROWE: Thank you. OK. Take your seat. You've always very kind. I'll be here all week. Try the suit.
FICK: All right, there you go. So that's what like to be an armor.
ROWE: Good. Yeah.
FICK: I'll going to go put on my suit, my armor.
(Off-Mike)
ROWE: Yeah. Yeah.
University: Mike, (inaudible) you could trust.
ROWE: I'm just thinking I'd hang myself. I'm sitting down as soon as fine.
Just falling down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
ROWE: Like you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
ROWE: Can do significant damage to you?
ROWE: Just sitting down by a tree to could straggler (ph) yourself.
I'm going to get a burrito before this. Oh, just stupid. It all comes down to this. I have got a take to the field of battle of the knight who has been doing this for 26 years.
Oh lord, give me the strength to remember my training, to summon the heart of a warrior and to somehow rise above the fear and still by Steaphen's ubiquitous companies (ph).
FICK: There you go.
ROWE: No man, I'm not ready to go.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:40:00]
ROWE: Steaphen Fick is spent the last hour teaching me the art of the longsword, something he spend the last 26 years mastering. So naturally the time has come for me to fight him, in 90 pounds of full armor.
FICK: So what we're going to do if we're going to fight for 60 seconds.
ROWE: All right.
FICK: You won't believe how long the 60 seconds is.
FICK: Hit to the head, three points, hit to the torso two points hit to the arm one point.
ROWE: This is CNN. First of all, I can't see. All I see is your freaking cock piece, it's is very distracting.
OK. 60 seconds, I can handle that. I can do anything for 60 seconds just don't look at cock piece.
FICK: Ready, engage.
ROWE: Hey, I'm doing OK. This is not that bad, 60 seconds no problem. I can go two minutes.
What would my knight name be, Sir Michael of Baltimore has a nice ring to it. Ouch.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on. Get him up. Hit him in the head.
ROWE: All right. Getting little tired in here, how this thing waste of time.
[21:45:00] I'm pretty sure I'm breathing my own CO2. Oh god. I just crap my armor.
When will this end?
(Off-Mike)
FICK: You're all right?
ROWE: Yeah, I'm OK. We have a time?
FICK: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
ROWE: Really, that's (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
ROWE: I'm done. Take this off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
ROWE: Never in a million years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take him out up.
ROWE: All right. So it didn't last the whole 60 seconds.
On the positive side, I still have on my limbs and not holding my intestines and my hands and I didn't throw up my helmet.
That's a single most jack up, buster (ph) for me. (inaudible) so we did make 47 seconds, never. But it's a lot of fun.
At the end of the day, I learned this. Despite it seeming like half renaissance (inaudible) and half dungeons of dragons, but world of longsword fighting is no joke, and the people who do it are very, very, serious
FICK: How then fighting for, what was that, 47 seconds, feel like?
ROWE: I tell you the truth, 45 were not bad.
DAVID KELTZ, EDGAR ALLAN POE IMPERSONATOR: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of lore.
ROWE: I know what you're thinking, why am I driving Edgar Allan Poe through the streets of Baltimore on this dreary winter's evening. Why is he residing to Raven and why does the whole thing look like a scene from the Maltese Falcon? The answer starts in a graveyard a few hours earlier.
You got to a line on a guy who had supposedly assume the identity of Edgar Allan Poe. I figured, he was either crazy or perfect for this show or maybe both. So I met him at the grave of one of my favorite writers and hope for the best.
ROWE: All right. You addressed as Edgar Allan Poe?
KELTZ: Yes.
ROWE: And you do this everyday? KELTZ: Oh, no. I would like to work everyday. I love doing it but I love doing the shows and I put it on it every opportunity.
ROWE: And when did you decide this was what you're going to do?
KELTZ: Well, I decided when I was a small child that I want to be actor. That was one of my major passions in life. And then, when I was about 13 years old, we were told by our teacher in this English class to read this next story.
When the class started their first sentence and saw, true nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and I'm -- why would you say that I'm mad? And go strong in by that sentence...
ROWE: The disease sharpen...
(CROSSTALK)
ROWE: ... my senses...
(CROSSTALK)
ROWE: We will now perhaps take a ride to his home.
KELTZ: Sure. That's good.
ROWE: Let's do that. After you.
At first, David seemed like anyone of the thousand actors trying to pick out a living in community theater.
KELTZ: Pardon.
ROWE: He also seemed to be fighting a nasty cough. To be honest, I was little worried but we were in is hands and he wanted to show us more than post grave. He wanted to show us the home of Edgar Allan Poe so we took a ride.
So, we're about are we right now, David?
KELTZ: Right down. We're in the west side of the city. This was his home right here.
I've done a number of performances, and this is the room, the tales we heard (inaudible), mostly just some of the short stories.
ROWE: You're up for a brief recitation or something?
KELTZ: Sure.
ROWE: All right. Collect your thoughts for a second, hold on. You guys stay here.
Hey, (Jones).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. ROWE: (Ted).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
ROWE: (Mary), is she coming?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. She's in room.
ROWE: No, come up here.
(OFF-MIKE)
KELTZ: This is kind of creepy.
ROWE: (Jones), you sit here. You're in the audience.
KELTZ: True. Nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am. But why will you say that I'm mad? The disease had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them.
ROWE: If it looks like we're hanging on to every word, it's because we are.
[21:50:00] KELTZ: And the pilot just stipulations (ph)...
ROWE: What happened to big, quiet, sickly David?
KELTZ: I swung the chair upon which I sat and (inaudible) it...
ROWE: Where did his cough go?
KELTZ: Again. Hark. Louder. Louder.
ROWE: For the next 15 minutes, David cast his spell upon us by the end of post most famous tales. We all wanted more.
KELTZ: (Inaudible). Just step (inaudible) I had to get the key. Tear up the flags, yah, yah, it's the big (inaudible) heart.
ROWE: I was wrong about David. He is not just another actor and looking for work. David is an actor who was born to play a very specific role. He didn't wait for someone to cast him, oh no, he cast himself and he memorize over 50,000 words for the part. That is a commitment.
So we decided to provide this unique feast be in with the slightly more cinematic stage.
OK. We'd now come to a downtown Baltimore. What's happening at the moment, these would be the show as we are rigging up this Cadillac that we found and the idea is to put Edgar Allan Poe in there, we cruise around town, and holds the raven? And if he do it right, I don't really know what's the purpose is? But it looks cool, though.
Are you fine that you're in a motivation?
KELTZ: I'm getting in.
ROWE: All right.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:55:00]
ROWE: Years ago, David Keltz cast himself in a role of a lifetime, and he became Edgar Allan Poe. To express our appreciation and because Doug (ph) is dying to do something cinematic, David and I would now presents the only great American poem with an NFL team named after it.
KELTZ: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore. While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping. As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "Tis some visitor", I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door
ROWE: Only this and nothing more.
There's probably problem a problem, I think...
Oh, yes. It's me and that's me (inaudible) streets.
Giving David the stage this big does come with it's fair share of complication, including not having enough time to air the whole poem, so we'll just skip to the end. But do yourself a favor, go read The Raven out loud or better yet go see David performing.
KELTZ: Leave my loneliness unbroken, quit the bust above my door. Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door.
ROWE: Quoth the raven, nevermore.
KELTZ: We're about two blocks from Annabel Lee tavern.
ROWE: Really...
KELTZ: Yeah.
ROWE: ... we should swing by.
Where but in this town would you finish his spirited performance of a (inaudible) classic and find yourself just steps away from a tavern named for another of his works. I swear it's a coincidence.
How often so you come here for refreshment?
KELTZ: Oh well sometimes I've been here as many as like three times a week something like that, you know.
ROWE: Would it be crazy to do the Annabel Lee here in the Annabel Lee?
KELTZ: Oh, and really, it would be fine. That would be perfect. ROWE: Hey, everybody. I'm so sorry to interrupt your dinner. My name is Mike Rowe, we work on a T.V show in town and Edgar Allan Poe is here. Hello, how are you. Good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir Mike Rowe, Baltimore native.
ROWE: Oh come on. Your very kind, anyway if you don't mind. I'll take about three or four minutes but be want Mr. Poe to recite the Annabel Lee and if you guys were play the part of the audience that would be great since you're here, so Edgar Allan Poe bringing to life the poem. "Annabel Lee" at your leisure.
KELTZ: It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea that a maiden there lived, whom you may know, by the name of Annabel Lee.
ROWE: It's a pretty extraordinary thing to have this level of certainty to commit 12 hours of literature to memory, just to make sure people can hear and feel the works of a one of a kind writer.
David Keltz is like you to have that certainty, in the city of Baltimore, is lucky to have him.
KELTZ: And neither the angels in heaven above, nor the demons down under the sea can ever dissever my soul from the soul, of the beautiful Annabel Lee. In her sepulcher there by the sea, in her tomb by the sounding sea...
ROWE: Edgar Allan Poe. It's fantastic if every great writer that talented actor keeping their work alive. At the last, that's not the case.
And while it's true that the works of Edgar Allan Poe will live for as long as people can read them, there's no doubts they'll lived a little better today thanks to an actor name Dave Keltz who decided to make his own and share them with all who would listen.
