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Shelley King discusses her cousin,
Wesley Clark
By Bonny Holder
 Austin musician Shelley
King swept the 2002-2003 Austin Music Awards. She placed #4
- Singer-Songwriter category; #5 in the Songwriter category.
Three #6s for Musician, Acoustic Guitar and Record Producer (for
her 2002 release, "The Highway"), and #7 for Best Female
Vocals.
Not only that, but a song that she wrote, the yearning
"Call of My Heart", won as #1 song of the year, recorded
by Toni Price. Toni's CD, "Midnight Pumpkin," on which
the song appears, won #1 CD of the year.
The musicians in her bands, "The Shelley King Band"
and "Sis Deville", took armfuls of other awards. Not
bad for a woman who, relatively recently, quit her day job and
devoted herself to music full-time. And speaking of "relatively"
her decision was inspired by a cousin of hers who was raised
with her Mom. He's Wes Clark, Democratic presidential contender.
In January, 2004, Shelley told me a little bit about her
relationship with the possible next President of the United States:
Wes just turned 59, my mom just turned 57. When he was graduating
first in his class at Westpoint, I was almost born. He and my
mother are very close. I'm sure you have heard that Wes' father
died when he was four, and his mother, Veneta Updegraff Kanne,
moved Wesley and herself back home to Little Rock. They lived
next door to my mother.
My mother's mom is Veneta's sister. That is, my grandmother,
Shirley Updegraff Donoho, is Wes' Aunt Shirley. See, she moved
back to Little Rock and moved in next door to her sister. That
makes good sense. Family can help with children. My grandmother
looked after Wes and my mom after school. My mother said that
Wes didn't need anyone to watch him because he was always so
responsible, even then.
When my mom was little, she would await Wesley's return from
school so she would have a playmate. But Wes would not play until
he had done his homework! No one had to make him or remind him
to do his homework, he just naturally had that kind of self discipline.
When I was a kid, Wes was grown with a family of his own;
his wife Gert and their son Wes Jr., who is four years younger
than me. Wes Jr. and his wife Astrid just had a baby boy on Christmas
day and appropriately named him Wes.
When I was growing up, I lived with my grandmother in rural
southwest Arkansas, near Hot Springs. My Aunt Veneta (Wes' mom)
lived about 30 miles away, in a small home on Lake Hamilton.
We used to visit Aunt Veneta and Uncle Vic at least 2 or 3 times
a month. My Uncle Vic had nice little garden that he was very
proud of and a real knack for bass fishing. We never found a
bone in Uncle Vic's fish fillets until he got really old.
He canned vegetables from the garden and made some killer homemade
wine. I would usually hang out with Uncle Vic, while my grandmother
and my Aunt Veneta would visit and sip Uncle Vic's wine. Uncle
Vic never drank it but my grandmother and aunt would. They always
sent us home with frozen milk cartons full of fish filets, homegrown
tomatoes from the garden and sometimes a jug of homemade muscadine,
peach or strawberry wine if we were lucky.
Aunt Veneta would always catch us up on Wesley's news. He
and his wife Gert, and their son, Wesley Jr., moved all the time!
While I was a child, they lived in Germany, Colorado, Washington
D.C., California, North Carolina, and tons other places. Since
I've been an adult, they've lived in Panama, Ft. Hood, Belgium,
D.C., Little Rock and probably many other places I've forgotten.
Army life means that you move constantly.
One hot Arkansas summer, Wes taught me how to water ski on
Lake Hamilton. We'd see him when he was home to visit Aunt Veneta.
Sometimes that was a few times a year, sometimes it was every
couple of years. It just depended on his assignment and where
he was stationed. One very special thing about Wes is that he
always took time to have personal one-on-one talks with all the
kids about their goals and plans. He took time for me and made
me feel very special.
He wanted to know about my goals, my plans, and strategy for
achieving said goals. When I was a teenager, he wanted to know
what courses I liked and disliked and why. What did I want to
be when I grew up? What college did I want to attend? He told
me not to get married before I finished college.
Wes is a very compassionate person. He helped me through the
death of my grandfather (his Uncle Miles). When my grandfather
was very ill, Wes and I talked on the phone. Well, he talked,
I cried. He was very positive, encouraging, reassuring, and comforting.
He told me to be strong for my grandmother and family, and that
my grandfather would pull though this. He said he could just
feel it. I had doubts since he wasn't there, and he didn't see
the condition my grandfather was in, but, he was right, my grandfather
pulled through that spell and lived another four or five months.
His reassurance was very important to me and gave me strength
and hope.
 As I got older,
I could feel the responsibility of reporting to the General.
I always felt like I needed to have all my ducks in row, and
be ready to answer hard questions about my short term and long
term goals. Even a few years ago, when we were gathered for my
grandfather's funeral, Wes told me several times throughout the
day, "before I leave, we are going to have our talk."
Sure enough, we sat down, and he asked me about my career, and
what I was doing with my music. He encouraged me to go for it!
He told me to "do it if you're gonna do it." At the
time, I was trying to juggle a day job and a budding music
career, and doing neither one justice. I took his encouragement
as a blessing to pursue my dream and immerse myself in my music.
I quit my day job, and since have recorded 3 albums, won numerous
awards, and toured extensively. I've never looked back thanks
to the encouragement of Cousin Wes! He's always said, "In
the Army we have a motto, 'Be all that you can be', and I want
you to reach your potential and be all that you can be".
When I started developing an interest in politics, I formed
my own opinions. My family was very open minded and independent
and didn't push me in any specific direction.
I did not vote for Dubya for Governor or for President. I loved
Ann Richards!
I was invited to perform at Dubya's presidential premature
victory party and I fervently declined. As far as telling Wes
what I thought about Dubya as a governor, it was really irrelevant.
When I talked with Wes about politics, it was about major world
issues. State and local issues just didn't come up. Not that
they weren't equally important, we just spent time talking about
broader issues. I never bothered him with my opinions of select
administrations because when he was in the Army, he would have
never talked negatively about the administration, regardless
of party affiliation. He was independent, and when he was in
the service, he worked for the administration in power. We talked
about his concerns for what was going on in the world, like the
problems in Kosovo with ethnic cleansing by Milosovic, and the
horrors of Rwanda. He's very sensitive to the perils of humanity
and he sincerely wants to help make a difference. Wes is an honest
and good person. I believe that is a rarity in politics. He's
a real person who is a true believer and major optimist. He believes
he can turn this country around and I believe him.
Wes likes music but I don't think he's necessarily musical.
He may be though and I may not know that side of him. However,
I think writing is our connection. I'm a songwriter and he's
writer as well. He was hand picked by General Alexander Haig
to write his speeches in the NATO talks back in the late 70s.
Since his tenure as a general, he's written two books. His first
book, called "Waging Modern War," is about his experience
as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, his success in Kosovo. His
second book, "Winning Modern War," is about Iraq. His
son, Wes Jr., is a screen writer in L.A. Wes has always inspired
me to be all that I can be. I try to convey that to others in
my writing.
Just as he wants to make a difference in this world, so do
I. I want to impact people's lives and help them see the positive
side of things. I want to give people hope. I believe music is
powerful and reaches people in a way that nothing else can. Music
is personal and can touch each individual differently and profoundly.
I have people tell me all the time that my song made a difference
in their life, that one of my albums helped them through a hard
time. When I hear stories like that, I know I'm doing what I'm
meant to do. I want to lift people up and give them hope. I want
to help them feel strong when they are feeling weak. I want to
help them smile when they feel like crying. I want to empower
them when they are feeling beaten.
I want people to know that they deserve better, they deserve
more, that they are strong and will make their way in this world.
Although my life and Wes' life are on two very different paths,
in many ways those paths are parallel. We both want to make a
difference and make the world a better place.
Find out more about Wes Clark at Clark For President
Visit Shelly King's site at shelleyking.com
You can contact Bonny Holder at bonny-at-rockzilla.net
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