Where could 23-year old Hannah Upp be?

It’s been over a week now since the young Spanish teacher vanished from her Harlem neighborhood. She was reportedly last seen by one of her roommates wrapped in a towel either walking from their bathroom to her bedroom or the other way around.

It’s all a blur for her family and friends who are having a difficult time thinking of how this vivacious, funny, free spirited, yet street smart woman could have just vanished, most importantly without her key belongings. After her roommates noticed that she wasn’t around last weekend, they started to worry, and went into her room to see what was up. There they found her cell phone, purse, wallet, passport (she had lost her id, and was using her passport) ATM card, subway card, and keys. A heart stopping discovery. She loved to run in the nearby parks — but her running shoes were in her room too.

That’s when her roommate “Manny” started to scroll through her cell phone and call her friends to see if they knew where she was. No one had a clue. He talked first to one of Hannah’s best friends who came up on her call list, who’s name also is Hannah, and after a discussion about what to do, they decided to go to the police.

Her friends describe her as one of the most caring people they’ve ever known, and say there is no way she would ever just “take off”, especially with her new school year about to start. After Hannah’s friends called the police, they were told to “keep them informed”, because often times, people DO go away and don’t tell people, and they need to wait 24 hours to file a missing persons report. Her friends knew something was wrong immediately, and when the police learned that Hannah didn’t show up to teach her class this Tuesday, they knew too.

Today, we took our cameras and drove north to Harlem to check out the apartment complex where she was last seen at 63 Hamilton Terrace, and to talk with her worried friends and mother. They just don’t know what happened, there isn’t a clue, or one indication where she went. There are no security cameras around, so there unfortunately are no pictures of her leaving or who she may have left with. If she were to have come out of that front door, and headed to her left, that would have been the direction of the park where she ran and her school where she taught. If she had gone to the right, she would have been heading in the direction of the subway and local grocery store.

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to quit your day job, (if only for a day) and be a rock star? Well, that’s exactly what Rock n’ Roll Fantasy Camp is all about, and for those about to rock… we salute you!

Monday, our FOX News crew headed over to Ultra Sound Rehearsal Studios in New York City, where the Fantasy Camp landed for the day. In years past, the camp was several days long and only in one city.

Because it has become so successful, and wildly popular, camp organizers have turned it into a real rock style tour, in which the rock star counselors go from city to city to meet up with campers and make a band in just one day, then play a real venue that same night. In New York City, it was a big one too, a sold out show at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza, opening up for Kings X and Extreme. Talk about a crash course in Jamming 101.

The counselors include bassist Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple (pictured in top photo being interviewed about teaching his song “Smoke on the Water” to campers), drummer Chris Slade of AC/DC, Aerosmith and Ozzy Osbourne Hit song writer Mark Hudson, Mark Slaughter of Slaughter, Earl Slick of David Bowie and John Lennon fame, Kip Winger of Winger, Elliot Easton guitarist from The Cars, former Megadeth bass guitarist David Ellefson, and Gilby Clarke formerly of Guns N’ Roses. Not bad!

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What a drag.  A big shoot we had planned today has been scrapped, and my crew and I are driving back to New York City from Providence, Rhode Island, right now.  It’s a 4 hour drive (with no traffic), which we had just made yesterday afternoon.  The drive is actually pretty nice, with lots of lofty trees that line the highway, making for a continuous streak of green to your left and to your right for the entire drive.    Our mission: was to be in place with our cameras today to watch the raising of the Juliet 484 out of the Providence harbor, as a follow up to a story we brought you last August when we came to the scene to film some of the salvage mission underway. 

Here she is, well, at least the top of her in this picture to the left.  The former Soviet cruise missile submarine K-77, turned Russian Sub Museum sank to the bottom of the silt and sand of the Providence River last April during a powerful Nor’easter which devoured the submarine.  

The Department of Defense came to the aid of museum operators to help deflect some of the costs of trying to bring her back to the surface, in exchange for the golden opportunity to train divers on a sunken submarine so close to the shore in relatively shallow waters.  A win win for everyone.  This shot here to the right shows the ship Navy and Army divers have been using for it’s platform to put divers in the water. 

This operation has been no easy task.  You know what it feels like to have your shoe stuck in the mud? Well, imagine having a 282 foot-long, 30 ton boot wedged into the gunk and try to pull it out.  That’s what the military has been dealing with for the last several months, and today was supposed to be the big day that it all the mathmatics, engineering, and sheer manpower came together.  Nyet! 

A safety briefing was called at 8:30 this morning to go over the details of what we were about to see, and much to our surprise, and disappointmnet of the folks at the Russian Sub Museum, the mission was delayed.    We were told that last minute safety checks raised significant safety concerns, and the planned lift would have to be delayed by 48-72 hours.  

Commander Dan Shultz informed us that he made the call at 2:35a.m., and wants to replace some of the equipment being used to bring up the Juliette, like the pontoons that have been laced under the submarine with “belly bands” to help lift her up out of the water.  Moments after he said that we heard a big “POOOF” come out of the water, and the divers underneath had released one of the pontoons.  I got a picture of it after it happened, but I sure wish I had a video camera rolling on that when it happened because it looked like a big fat spout shooting out of the water with the red pontoon floating up on top of it several feet in the air. 

Frank Lennon, the director for the Russian Sub Museum on hand was disappointed, but said he has waited this long… he can wait a few more days.  The big question remains- will the sub be able to return to it’s glory days as a museum that once attracted tens of thousands of tourists?  We’ll be in contact with the crew over the next few days and will let you know what happens.  Stay tuned!

There’s been a lot of Rock n’ Roll action going on in New York lately.

My last blog was all about Iron Maiden being at Madison Square Garden, then last night, Motley Crue dropped in to Fox News to talk with Greta Van Susteren via satellite about the release of their new record “Saints of Los Angeles” that came out at midnight, among other things. Go to gretawire.com for the full scoop.

Can you believe this shirt, and photo op? My good friend Laurie gave it to me a few months ago, and I couldn’t think of a better time to wear it, than to meet up with all four original band members of the Crue. Too bad we didn’t line up in order of the shirt that’s Nikki Sixx to the left, Mick Mars, me, Tommy Lee and Vince Neil, but that would have been too organized. (side note: I can’t believe I forgot to take my blackberry off!)

I have interviewed Vince Neil before, when I was doing the rock jock thing in Sacramento, and he was opening for Van Halen at Cal Expo, which is sadly no longer still around. Another time, when I was working for KFI in L.A., I talked with Nikki and Mick when they were doing a book signing on Sunset Strip at Tower Records for the band’s autobiography “The Dirt” (favorite sound bite came from Nikki “yea, it’s a trip being here signing books, considering we used to come in here and steal records”.)

So, last night, the guys got to the studio nice and early to get ready for Greta’s interview, which you rarely see with bands. If you are a GretaWire loyalist, you’ll know that Greta had Nikki Sixx on the pre-show GretaWire feed. I tried showing Vince how it works in the greenroom, but that computer doesn’t have working speakers, so we couldn’t hear anything! We talked a lot about living in California, and Las Vegas (he has homes in both) and about his “Motley Cruise” he hosts every year. You heard me right, you too could go on a cruise ship with Vince Neil and other rockers if you dare. You should google it, the pictures alone are worth it.

When I got up to go check something out in the other room, I ran into Tommy Lee hanging outside Studio C, where the band was going to do the interview in the next 20 minutes. He wanted to know if I could get him some ice… for, let’s just say, a beverage that’s never stocked in the Fox greenrooms. (this could explain his frisky behavior on the air with Greta, you know what I’m talking about if you saw it). After someone found him ice (I have no idea where they got it) the guys came into the studio to do get set up. Tommy then wanted to know if he could use my Mac Powder compact, I wasn’t really sure what would happen next…. so I broke out my Flip Cam

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The Garden. Madison Square Garden. Pure magic for musicians for many reasons.

Aside from the historic sporting events that have taken place here, there have also been monumental rock shows that have brought the house down, including the legendary filming of “The Song Remains The Same” by Led Zeppelin in 1973, where Janis Joplin performed her last concert in 1969, and where Elvis performed the only shows he ever played in New York in 1972.

There really is an electricity you feel when you first walk in, and makes you catch your breath when you look up to the ceiling. This is where most every band wants to play someday.

MSG has a big fat lofty spaceship looking ceiling for great acoustics, plenty of space for roaring crowds, and an enormous circular room to fill with sound..

But what happens when a band rocks the place so hard, it blows the PA system??

If you’re Iron Maiden, you punt. Quite literally.

Our British Heavy Metal heros returned to the Big Apple last weekend and played to a sold out crowd that included our Fox News crew that did a story in March on the band, and in a bizarro celebrity sighting world, Lance Armstrong and Kate Hudson. As Maiden fans rocked and sang along to “Powerslave” suddenly the guitar strings and Bruce’s voice were silenced, as if someone had turned off a big power switch in the bowels of the building. Some bands might retire backstage and have a beer, throw a fit, or ask the sound man to put on some music to keep the fans occupied, but not these guys.

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The band turned to their second favorite activitiy … playing soccer. Die hard fans know that Steve Harris, bass player extraordinaire, is a die hard West Ham United fan. (I know, I know, they call it football, but for purposes of this blog, we’ll call it soccer due to the visuals). When the PA system blew, luckily, the house lights stayed on (can you imagine if the entire place went dark?) Someone busted out a ball, and the band started kicking it around on stage, much to the delight of the fans who were at first bummed about the power outage, then realized they were all a part of a very cool rock historic moment, THIS is definitely something you don’t see everyday!

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