In 1882, Chester A. Arthur was President of The United States, Jesse James was shot by Robert Ford, Thomas Edison threw the switch on the first commercial power plant in the U.S., the Great Comet of 1882 lit up the sky and Keith Kitchen was born on July 4th.
Writing in his autobiography “Did I REALLY Do This?”, Keith says he served on the bridge of the battleship U.S.S. Texas during the Spanish-American War, then went ashore with Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders to storm San Juan Hill. During World War I he served as the executive officer of the destroyer U.S.S. Clemson and spoke before Congress on why we needed more battleships for the navy.
During the 1920’s he ran a Speakeasy in Newark, New Jersey before heading to Europe to spend the rest of Prohibition in Paris.
During World War II, Keith advised President Roosevelt on the necessity of having more aircraft carriers and then worked at selling War Bonds.
When the 1950’s arrived, he was touring in Hank Williams’ band and was at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville when Elvis performed there. Later that decade, he worked at Columbia Records, training under Mitch Miller.
He made a total nuisance of himself speaking at anti-war rallies during the Vietnam Conflict, supporting the troops but not the war and spent several years in Europe before returning to the U.S. in time to attend the Woodstock Festival in New York.
Reports that place Keith on top of the Apple offices in London during The Beatle’s rooftop concert and at Graceland just before Elvis’ passing are simply not true.
Keith settled down in the mid-1980’s, getting married and raising three children.
The children have now grown up and have moved on and Keith and his wife Jeanette are still together.
Keith has been with Backyard Broadcasting since 2002 and has been with WILQ since 2006, hosting afternoon drive and producing the “Files of The Strange & Deranged” podcast.
