Use a query_posts loop:
https://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/query_posts
I’m quite sure that a plugin exists to do such a thing.
That was the first thing I tried. that did not work, not sure why. Any other ideas? If you follow the link to my original WordPress.org post, it shows how I did it exactly. For some reason it is not working.
If you have other query_post loops running on the page, you might need to reset the loop.
Use something like wp_reset_query(); after a query_posts loop or use a WP_Query loop, which doesn’t require resetting altogether:
http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2008/04/13/define-your-own-wordpress-loop-using-wp_query/
I will look into that, not sure how that all works. another issue I have, if you look at the site, is that the slideshow in the header and footer both change when clicking the next or prev button, for example, clicking the next button on the footer slideshow changes the footer slideshow, as it should, but it also changes the header slideshow. I am very confused on all of this right now.
http://www.billboardfamily.com
UPDATE: I tried your suggestion, with fingers crossed, but i could not get that to work either. I was sure that was going to work, as it made perfect sense. Back to the drawing board, I guess. Any other thoughts on this? This is pretty annoying.