Ray Kohn's Dukes Show

[RogerDuke]

I'll let everybody here know how it went.

These things make me a little nervous because I worry about Ray and the other stunt men.

Any time I see Ray's shows it really gives me a deep appreciation for what the stunt men did on the show for seven years.

[RogerDuke]

As expected I had a blast Saturday.

I arrived about three hours before Ray's stunt show started. I had an opportunity to say hi to Ray and a couple of his team members and then went to meet Coy and Sheriff Little. It was great talking to them since I'd never met either of them before. Coy was just as friendly and energetic and he is on the show and thankfully Big Ed is much friendlier than his character or I'd be in jail right now for wearing a General Lee shirt and hat. I really loved the experience of meeting them. They're both awesome representatives of the best television show in history.

I then went off to watch the trucks at Yankee Lake's mud heaven (in eastern Ohio) do their thing. If you ever get a chance, go to their website and check them out. I even befriended some one of the drivers in the pit and convinced him to let me ride in the back and get splattered with mud!

Ray's show was exceptional. I've seen several of them but this was definitely my favorite. While Big Ed didn't participate, Coy Duke himself (Byron Cherry) was riding around in the General Lee the entire time. The car was driven by Ray's crew member who plays Luke so 'ole Coy didn't get to show off his skills as a wheelman but it was an unbelievable experience for a super fan like me to see a real Duke boy running around in the General Lee. And talk about impressive, Coy jumped in the open window of the General just like he did 30 years ago!.....and he did it several times. What a showman! What an athlete!

One thing that was added to the show that I hadn't seen the last time I'd been to one is a skit where a life sized Flash (man in a dog suit) tricks Rosco and steals his sheriff's car while Rosco hops on a mini motorized bike (and I do mean mini) and chases him around. I laughed so had I could barely stand it. What a great addition to the script. The guy who plays Rosco is a crowd favorite. You can watch fans light up every time anything comes out of his mouth. His interaction with Boss Hogg (played by Ray's brother) is priceless and that interaction alone is worth the price of admission. Both of those guys are amazing playing those roles.

As usual, the stunts were breathtaking which is something that fans of Ray's shows have come to expect. And as usual, the highlight was seeing Ray fly like an eagle in the most famous car in the history of the planet.

Fireworks came afterward but I didn't stay around because I had an hour and a half drive home and my daughter and her family are visiting from Virginia which means that I had to get up at 6:00 to grandsons who want to play with Duke cars so I left before congratulating the actors and stunt men.

Great job to everybody at the Northeast Ohio Dukes for another flawless performance. Since I've volunteered at a couple of these shows in previous years I have a tiny bit of an idea how much is involved in organizing them although I'm sure I've only experienced the tip of the iceberg. Icebergs may be cool but Ray's shows are even cooler!

[HossC]

Thanks for the review, Roger. One of these days we're gonna have to teach you how to post pictures .

[HossC]

I found this video of the Yankee Lake show on www.northeastohiodukes.net. The site also has videos and slideshows of older events.

[RogerDuke]

Thanks Hoss.

I'm about as low tech as you can get.

I still don't own a cell phone and have no plans to.

If I did I'd have to carry reading glasses around too, which means I'd have two more things to lose.

[RogerDuke]

Ray Kohn is at it again. He's planning another fantastic Dukes stunt show in eastern Ohio on the weekend of July 24-25.

They even have a Drag N' Fly contest planned where you can jump your own car! Hmmm, I can't remember which episode that's from, can anybody else?

I'm really excited about it. I'm so lucky that it's only about an hour and 15 minutes from me.

For more information google northeastohiodukes.

[HossC]

 
The Drag 'N' Fly contest was in 'Goodbye, General Lee' in season 4.

 

Here's a poster for the event that Roger mentioned:

 

 

And here's my version of the banner from the Fan Art section.

 

Edited June 22, 2015 by HossC

[RogerDuke]

Thanks Hoss! I've said it a million times...you're awesome!

[RogerDuke]

I'm really exited about this.

Even if Ray hadn't changed the plot of the show I'd be excited but now that I see something new is coming I'm twice as exited. I'm really lucky to live relatively close to this. I wish everybody had an opportunity to see this.

As always I'll write up a review early next week. And I suspect it will be a two thumbs up like always.

[Spike]

Would not be surprised to see this show make the national news rounds due to the General Lee and the flag. 

[RogerDuke]

If reporters are there I'll be having a few things to say.

I'm pretty excited about tomorrow.

I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve.

[RogerDuke]

I didn't believe it was possible but Ray Kohn and his amazing crew have actually improved perfection and created an even better stunt show than their first 17 incredible events.

Saturday was a beautiful day in eastern Ohio as my wife and I sat down for the show. Earlier I wished Ray and my favorite driver Mike good luck but didn't get a chance to talk to anybody else on the crew. The show began with the National Anthem and was followed with a memorial to those killed in Charleston S.C. That event may have led to the unfortunate knee jerk reaction of taking the Dukes off the air but I gotta hand it to Ray and his crew. Honoring the victims in Charleston was a classy move on their part and is one of the many reasons I love the Northeast Ohio Dukes.

After the introductions, the show began. The stunt show is run like an episode. In this episode Cletus is driving a white van with a million dollars in it and is high jacked by Bo and Luke look-a-likes in a General Lee Look-a-like. You can probably guess that the story has a happy ending but before that happened here are some personal comments and highlights....not necessarily in order that they happened....

1) The show did it's first truck flip. Of course it wasn't Ray's showpiece 1973 Ford but it did the job. Uncle Jesse emerged from the wreck unscratched and so did the stuntman. (just like the real show, only the stuntman was actually in the truck)

2) Daisy took Rosco's sheriff's car and Rosco chased her around in a motorized mini-bike. I laughed the whole time. All the actors are hooked up to portable microphones and Rosco is absolutely hilarious. He's so good at imitating the real McCoy.

3) Speaking of good at his job, the narrator was excellent. He even wore a black cowboy hat similar to what Waylon would wear.

4) My friend Mike did a flip in a Big Ed Little sheriff's car. Normally he plays Enos but since more stunts were added to the show he made the switch. I've only seen 7 of the 18 shows so I'm not sure but I think this was his first time playing Big Ed. I sat by his wife and kids and smiled when he came over to see  them after the stunt and got to shake his hand.

5) Two things I wasn't expecting were explosions...huge explosions! One happened when Ray (playing Bo as always) threw some dynamite. The timing to the real device was perfect. It looked as real as it could. Also there was an explosion on one of the stunts. Wow! We actually felt the heat from the huge fireball. I looked at my wife with eyes wide open and said. "Did that jut really happen!?"

6) Ray's big jump went perfect. Like all the other stunt men he emerged fine (although I suspect a couple of them are bruised up especially the guy who flipped the truck) Ray has really gotten this stunt thing down to a science and I'm sure he's as good or better than the guys who did it from 1979-1985

7) Just before the jump there was an emotional tribute to Ray's father who passed away in February. Before that he was the one who played Uncle Jesse in the shows. I was especially attached to him because  several years ago I befriended him and he always made me feel like I was a nephew every time I came to a show. He was truly a fine representative of the Uncle Jesse from the show and I was especially blessed to know him. He always let me call him Uncle Jesse and always had a way of making me feel like I really was in Hazzard County. My eyes got a little watery during the tribute. I miss him.

8) Another thing that was emotional for me was knowing that the next day would be James Best's birthday. Time passes on and people pass on to Hazzard County Heaven but for those of us who remain, they're always in our heart. Thanks to Ray, his family and crew for loving the Dukes and good old fashioned family values enough to keep the show alive.

9) There was a guy there operating a drone with a camera. He told me he was working for Yankee Lake so I suspect there may be video of it on their website now or later. Ray usually has videos on his website as well. If you get a chance to see it you'll quickly understand why I love these shows.

[Roth Potter]

I think I've seen some parts of that show before. Isn't it somewhere on a lot with dirt and some wooden structure or factory behind it?

 

I'd love to go there someday but I don't think I ever will. :/

[Meadowmufn]

Roger, thanks for sharing your experience for those of us that couldn't be there. You didn't happen to get pictures, did you?

[RogerDuke]

Sorry no pictures. Usually this is the part in the thread where Roth inserts a link to Yankee Lake or Northeast Ohio Dukes so folks can see videos.

I'm still as low tech as I was when I first came to HazzardNet.

I'd sure like to see video from the drone.

[Roth Potter]

They didn't upload anything from the 2015 show yet.

[HossC]

If Roger had pictures, I bet he'd be waiting to collect them from the drugstore .

 

I also looked at the Northeast Ohio Dukes site, but all they had was this 2015 promo (uploaded 12/22/2014) which I think is new to the thread:

[Roth Potter]

I love how they use junkyard chargers for the jumps and a good one for the other scenes. They do a very good job on them.

 

Though I'm kind of disturbed by one thing. It's not even about the cars. It must be an american thing because I never saw it in Europe. That woman playing Daisy, Is she really wearing two tank tops, then a bra and another tank top over it? Makes no sense to me. This is at the scene where's she's autographing.

[RogerDuke]

Just picked up two copies of Chrysler Power magazine. Ray Kohn wrote a story about the stunt show. It is awesome! On page 28 I think it's me in the background taking a picture of a General that has just been jumped.

[Roth Potter]

I don't know if that picture was taken with a digital camera, but if so. Is there any way we can see it?

[RogerDuke]

On 5/8/2016 at 3:52 PM, Roth Potter said:

I don't know if that picture was taken with a digital camera, but if so. Is there any way we can see it?

Do you mean the one I took or the one in the magazine? If it's the one I took I wouldn't know how to do that. I still have pictures printed out on paper and save them the old fashioned way. If you mean the one in the magazine I'm not sure if it is online or not.

[Roth Potter]

I meant the one you took.

[RogerDuke]

I just found out that Ray and his team are planning something big for the summer of 2017. They're going to jump the General over a pond and Rosco is going to be chasing them and jump his car into the pond. The amazing thing for me is that this is going to be happening right by my house. I'm about as excited as you can imagine. I'm going to try to call him tonight and see what I can do to help out.

[RogerDuke]

I just talked to Ray last night and found out that this idea of jumping the General over a pond near my house is only a proposal and not yet a done deal but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will happen. Jumping over a pond would be a first for the Northeast Ohio Dukes stunt show and jumping a police car into the water would be a first for them as well.

[Roth Potter]

That's quite amazing! Can't believe how you Americans get stunt shows like this. Is he a stuntman by profession?