- [Narrator] Coming up on Nebraska Stories, a rock collection like no other, artful canines created for a noble cause, Omaha singer songwriter, Jocelyn, and the restoration of a cold war warrior.

(upbeat rock music) ("I Wanna Rock N Roll All Nite" by Kiss) - [Narrator] Sometimes when you love something, you just can't get enough of it.

♪ You show us everything you got ♪ For Dennis Michalski of York, that something is the hard driving rock band, Kiss.

♪ We'll drive you crazy.

♪ He saw the makeup-wearing fire-breathing rockers in concert for the first time when he was about 12 years old.

- Everybody's favorite song is Rock and Roll All Night.

♪ I, wanna rock and roll all night ♪ ♪ And party everyday ♪ After I had seen them on stage, they just totally blew my mind, changed my life.

I mean, forever.

It was just so amazing that I don't even know how to explain it.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] What he couldn't put into words, he put into a collection that now takes up much of his home.

- First thing that I collected was my ticket stub actually, 'cause I still have it.

I remember holding on to that, going into the show.

I kept that and cherished it forever and ever, and ever.

- [Narrator] That ticket stub got him in the door to the concert and opened the door to a lifetime of collecting Kiss memorabilia.

There's leather jackets and lunchboxes, even bags of confetti that fell to the floor following Kiss concerts.

- I'm looking at perfumes, neckties, a lot of clothing, any kind of clothing item that you can think of.

Guitar strings, they come out with their own pop now.

Guitar picks is a big one for me.

They even got a toothbrush.

- [Narrator] Many times he buys two of an item, one to keep sealed in the box it came in, and another to open and enjoy.

Then there's the guitars.

- This is my favorite guitar.

This is uh signed to Dennis from Ace Frehley right there.

And I got this at Rock'n'Roll Fantasy Camp, and it means a lot to me.

(Dennis drumming) - [Narrator] Yes, Dennis spent a week at Rock'n'Roll Fantasy Camp, playing drums and meeting some music legends, including Ace Frehley from Kiss.

(upbeat music) For a week in California, he lived like a rockstar.

Back in Nebraska though, his Kiss collection has brought him his own fame.

- People still called me the Kiss fan, you know, the Kiss guy.

I remember walking in Lincoln one time and this guy had just stopped dead cold and said, "You're the Kiss guy, aren't you?"

And pointed out to his son, you know, "This is the guy that everybody talks about."

And the little boy's eyes just lit up, like he's seeing a rockstar or something, you know.

And I was just, after I walked away, I realized it made me feel good 'cause that was pretty neat.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] The same kind of feeling he gets watching Kiss take the stage.

(upbeat music) If you could rate the fans of this rock band, Dennis would be off the charts.

- There's there's a lot of crazies out there, but I think I'm up there, but I'm not a Kiss freak.

I'm a Kiss fan.

- [Narrato] A fan who's living his own real life rock and roll fantasy.

One Kiss collectible at a time.

- I'd like to have my own Kiss museum someday, it's where I can sit down and just open things up to people and share.

It's so cool to watch somebody come over here and open up the curtain to come down here and just go, "Oh wow, that's amazing."

(crowd applauding) (bright upbeat music) - [Narrator] When a camera crew shows up on your front yard on a hot day in July, it can attract a lot of attention.

- Here comes another one.

(laughs) - [Narrator] But it's not really the crew that's turning heads, it's a pack of 25 colorful fiberglass dogs.

These positive, wonderful hounds, are the dog children of Jo Mayber.

- We got the idea to do Paws on the Platte community art by seeing sculptures in different cities, such as Lincoln's hearts and things.

And I thought, I really wanna look into that.

- [Narrator] Jo was doggedly determined to find the perfect way to raise money for the cause that's close to her heart.

- We are an organization of volunteers that works to improve the lives of cats and dogs in the North Platte area.

We do that by providing low income spay neuter services by emergency veterinary care working to educate pet owners on responsible pet care.

- [Narrator] As president of PAWS-itive Partners, Jo collaborated with her team and came up with a charitable event that combined local businesses and artists with animal lovers.

- [Jo] There's a lot of talented artists in North Platte.

And we decided that we would ask if any, would like to volunteer to paint dogs for our project.

Of the people that we asked, not a single one turned us down, and said they would love to.

- [Narrator] Paws on the Platte community art project was born.

The concept was simple, a business sponsors a fiberglass dog, a selected local artists paints it, and then the finished piece goes up for public auction.

- [Jeff] I love Jo because she is just as excited and passionate about these dogs as we are.

And she loves every dog, like she won't pick a favorite, but every dog is very special to her.

And for that, how could you not get excited.

- [Narrator] Business owner and artists Jeff Caldwell incorporated scenes of North Platte on his dog, he named Sprocket.

- [Jeff] For one, I'm a dog lover.

And two, I am a big bike rider.

And when I ride my bike, I wanted to know like, where do I ride in North Platte?

What do I like to see?

And I loved the old buildings downtown, which is why Paramount and the Fox Theater's on here.

You have the Pawnee, Scout's Rest Ranch, the railroad, the Spike, Cody Park.

I mean, all these are great places where you can ride your bike and check out.

And I just thought, I'd incorporate that on Sprocket.

My mom passed away during this, so I had a struggle for a while trying to figure out what I was gonna do.

And she was proud of North Platte.

So that is kinda why this has a lot of me and my mom and my family in this.

So you do grow fond of them.

It is fun.

And we just like bringing smiles to everybody's faces.

So that's how we came up with him.

- [Narrator] Body piercer and apprentice tattoo artist, Mariah Sprunk grew up around animals.

She and a group of fellow tattoo artists painted Lloyd.

- So Lloyd's wearing his little dapper vest with his sweet little glasses, and he's got this beautiful little helix piercing over here.

And it just kind of ties in with that old-school tattoo shop vibe.

- [Jo] The quality of the artistry is just phenomenal.

We have some artists that this was their first project to do anything like this.

We have some that were very seasoned and actually have artwork around the United States, and even overseas.

- [Narrator] Tara Lienemann was inspired by the bold decorative colors found in Hispanic art.

When she painted Dante Coco Loco.

- I decided to paint it in the aspect of the Mexican traditional folk art.

It's a really neat technique to decorate their spirit animal characters.

I just thought it was a really cool design to do for this dog.

- [Jo] When you see all the dogs together, especially it's just a little overwhelming to the senses because of the quality of the artwork, the variety, the different themes people have been in awe of it and really support what we've done.

- I wanted to be part of this project because I have a real passion for animals.

And I know that the funds for these auctions are gonna just go to a really great program.

The PAWS-itive Partners have done so many amazing things for our community.

- [Narrator] Like so many other dogs and cats who found their forever homes through the good works of PAWS-itive Partners, and the North Platte Animal Shelter, Sprocket and his 24 other pals have now found their forever homes in the communities across Nebraska.

In North Platte, it seems every dog does indeed have its day.

(bright upbeat music) (acoustic guitar) (whistling) - Ah, I messed it up.

Ah sorry, all right, they just come to me.

When I feel something that I went through or something that I haven't let go of yet, it will take a hold of me and I'll need to do something about it.

And then I write about it or I express it.

I just grab my guitar, I'll hear a melody in my head.

If it sticks, I'll keep it and I'll record it on my cell phone.

As I'm creating it, I'm writing words that I feel.

♪ Yeah yeah, no matter what, I hope you never change ♪ ♪ Never change ♪ Acoustic pop, a little bit of hip hop, a little bit of alternative indie.

I feel like there's a little bit of jazz, RnB.

♪ Be unapologetic you ♪ I just keep going as it comes to me.

Keep performing, playing shows, getting better at performing my album and hoping to change lives with the music.

♪ You were the one.

♪ I love performing for people and making their day just a little bit brighter.

And I know music can do that.

It does it for me.

I was going through a very hard time, kind of not being able to accept myself.

I feel like now I'm finally in there.

I just wanted to be perfect all the time.

Social media definitely made me feel that way, that I needed to be that way.

It can consume your brain, your mind, your confidence, and make you feel like you are nothing.

And we have to remember that we are not the internet.

We are human beings with real-life lives to live, and we have to make the best of it because we only have this life.

I've just been going to schools, it's to help the kids accept where they are now and how to deal with it in a positive way.

How to deal with it so they can grow from the outcome and become a better person and build character.

My hopes are to get this positive music out there to the kids, let them know like, hey, this is an awkward stage, but guess what?

It's not gonna last forever.

And you can do something about it right now.

Find something that you love and start learning about it.

♪ So I want you to know when you come back home ♪ ♪ That things won't be the same ♪ ♪ As they were yesterday ♪ We forget to not always think the same as other people.

We don't always need to be in the same mindset.

It just doesn't have to be that way.

The one thing we should all agree on is all being able to think differently and being okay with that and trying to understand one another.

♪ Yeah Mmm hm hm mm mm hmm ♪ ♪ This time is the last time I swear ♪ ♪ This time is the last ♪ ♪ Gonna turn the page on all my yesterdays ♪ ♪ And write my own path ♪ ♪ And if I wake up feeling like the sun has lost its shine ♪ ♪ I'm going to throw my head up ♪ ♪ And rewrite every line ♪ ♪ Damn you look so beautiful ♪ ♪ You're far beyond the usual ♪ ♪ And baby don't forget ♪ ♪ You're not an accident ♪ ♪ You light up every room you walk in ♪ ♪ All the hearts you touched start falling ♪ ♪ No one will forget ♪ ♪ Everywhere you've been ♪ ♪ I'm gonna write a love letter to myself ♪ ♪ You're gonna hear it, hear it ♪ ♪ Love letter to myself ♪ ♪ You're gonna hear it right now ♪ ♪ Oh na na na, oh na na yeah ♪ ♪ Oh na na na, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh na na na, oh na na yeah ♪ ♪ Oh na na na yeah ♪ ♪ This world deal without you I swear ♪ ♪ Pick you up just to knock you down ♪ ♪ Nobody's ever bullet proof ♪ ♪ If you learned a lesson you didn't lose ♪ ♪ And if I wake up feeling like my soul has lost its shine ♪ ♪ I'm gonna throw my head up ♪ ♪ And rewrite every line ♪ ♪ Damn you look so beautiful, you're far beyond the usual ♪ ♪ And baby don't forget, you're not an accident ♪ ♪ You light up every room you walk in ♪ ♪ All the hearts you touch start falling ♪ ♪ No one will forget ♪ ♪ Everywhere you've been ♪ ♪ I'm gonna write a love letter to myself ♪ ♪ You're gonna hear it, hear it ♪ ♪ Love letter to myself ♪ ♪ You're gonna hear it, ♪ ♪ Right now, don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up, don't give up on me ♪ ♪ Don't give up, don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up on me ♪ ♪ Don't give up, don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up on me ♪ ♪ I'll write it in permanent ink yeah ♪ ♪ Damn you look so beautiful ♪ ♪ You're far beyond the usual ♪ ♪ And baby don't forget ♪ ♪ You're not an accident ♪ ♪ You light up every room you walk in ♪ ♪ All the hearts you touch start falling ♪ ♪ No one will forget, everywhere you've been ♪ ♪ I'm gonna write a love letter to myself ♪ ♪ I'm gonna write a love letter to myself ♪ ♪ So beautiful, yeah ♪ ♪ Don't forget baby ♪ ♪ I'm gonna write a love letter to myself ♪ ♪ You're gonna hear it, hear it ♪ ♪ Love letter to myself ♪ ♪ You're gonna hear it right now ♪ MARK HAMILTON: This is your battlestaff area.

You can see right here it's there, it's there, it's there.

It's everywhere.

NARRATOR: Mark Hamilton has been restoring aircraft at the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland for more than two decades.

The B-29 Superfortress, the C-47 Skytrain, and now this one, the EC-135 Looking Glass.

HAMILTON: Some stuff is so deteriorated that you have to paint it.

There's mold, this stuff's gonna have to come out.

This piece, there's a nut plate that fits up here where that screw went.

That piece is all corroded off.

NARRATOR: This is the largest and perhaps the most important restoration project to date for the museum.

Expected to cost at least 200,000, fund raising efforts have garnered about half that much so far.

AL BUCKLES: Just think of the copper that's up there.

We're gonna take all that copper out.

JOHN CHAIN: And sell it?

BUCKLES: And sell it.

NARRATOR: Leading the effort to restore this aircraft are two men who spent years working aboard the plane.

JOHN CHAIN: This was the heart of the operation, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, week after week, month after month, year after year.

This was the heart beat.

BUCKLES: This part of the airplane is referred to as the battlestaff area.

And this would be the chair right here that the general sat in, this chair right here.

NARRATOR: Retired four-star General John Chain is the former commander of the Strategic Air Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue.

He and former Emergency Action Team Officer Al Buckles want others to know the role this plane played in helping the U.S. win a war it never had to fight.

JOHN CHAIN: SO, it was airborne 24 hours a day, seven days a week for many, many years.

And if we were ever as a country under attack, particularly with nuclear weapons, we had a command post that could operate and be able to control and make sure that the missiles that we had when the president of the United States made the decision, we would be able to launch 'em.

NARRATOR: For nearly three decades beginning in 1961 at the height of U.S. and Soviet Cold War tensions, Strategic Air Command operated airborne command posts, code name Looking Glass for it's ability to mirror the nuclear command and control functions underground at Offutt.

BUCKLES: They never come to the general to say, may I go do this?

They just knew their job had to be done this and they did that.

CHAIN: That's right.

NARRATOR: General Chain never got the call to launch from the president, but it was a responsibility he was ready to execute at any time.

CHAIN: We were so strong and so well prepared, they'd have to know that we would retaliate.

And it would be a terrible retaliation.

We would eliminate them basically.

NARRATOR: There were a number of Looking Glass aircraft built, but this will be the only one on display in the world.

The general was at the helm for the final mission.

CHAIN: The biggest memory is the quality of the crews flying the airplane and the battlestaff.

They were a band of brothers and sisters.

They knew what they were doing and the importance of the mission, and they did it extremely well.

NARRATOR: It was once a state-of-the-art aircraft, walls lined with the latest in electronic equipment, high tech wiring and control panels, and manned by a highly-trained elite crew.

In 1990, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the continuous airborne mission ended, and the Looking Glass was put on ground alert status.

It was the end of an era as newer technologies and efficiencies replaced this relic of the Cold War.

For many, the Looking Glass is an icon of peace.

But the aircraft's current state belies its historical significance.

Now, much of the plane has been tagged and stripped, bare walls expose rotted in sulation and corroded panels.

Every instrument from cockpit to tail is being restored and reinstalled.

After deteriorating outside for nearly two decades, this EC-135 jet, also known as the Doomsday Plane, is inside a hangar at the museum, wings clipped and more than halfway through a five year restoration project.

HAMILTON: I knew this one was gonna be a lot of work.

The aircraft had never been sealed.

It had a lot of openings in it.

When it sat out there, the right side of the aircraft was facing on the west side.

So, all the snow came and then formed them barnacles.

And so, I was out there killing wasps and pluggin' holes.

And there was damage on this panel.

So, I had them remove this panel and then we found a bird nest.

And that was the same underneath, but it was like a bale of hay comin' out.

NARRATOR: For the past couple of years Hamilton has been working with a rotating crew of volunteers to bring this iconic warhorse back to its appearance during the height of the Cold War.

HAMILTON: Good?

All right.

NARRATOR: A number of the volunteers have a personal stake in the restoration.

RICHARD DOOLITTLE: I was flying the Looking Glass from 1978 to 1982.

I was a communications officer and airborne launch control systems officer.

I knew what it was when it first came out here, and then I saw the deterioration and it made me feel upset.

I pulled my old chair out and put it in storage.

I pulled my console out and it's in storage.

I cleaned that down to the metal.

So, I'm looking forward to the time when we start putting the components back in.

NARRATOR: Volunteer Steve Stevens piloted the Looking Glass and flew 18 missions on this very plane.

STEVE STEVENS: You look at the airplane and you say, I flew that beauty.

You live in the past, I guess is the best way to call it.

And I thought it was a good project.

I'm retired and I had plenty of time.

It's a lot of memories.

NARRATOR: With a target completion date of 2020, the goal is to create a walkable museum display inside the aircraft.

DOOLITTLE:: Looking back, I had a strong sense of pride of being part of the Strategic Air Command, and knowing what we were doing, and knowing what it meant to the country.

It made a lot of the hardships bearable.

I certainly want people to understand what we did.

It'll be there for history for my kids, grandkids to see what Strategic Air Command was.

A lot of people nowadays don't really remember that.

STEVENS: We told the world, mainly the Soviet Union, that we would keep it up there 24 hours a day, seven days a week for years.

We always had the capability of taking over command of the nuclear forces.

People can look at it and say, that won the Cold War.

It didn't go to the boneyard to get chopped up and melted.

It's history.

It won the Cold War.

(upbeat music) NARRATOR: Watch more Nebraska Stores on our website, Facebook, and YouTube.

Nebraska Stories is funded in part by the Margaret and Martha Thomas Foundation.

(upbeat music)