Everett's Music Barn

Everett's Music Barn in Suwanee, Georgia.  
It was non-stop Blluegrass, Each group had about 50 minutes.  I heard a lot of men-folk address women as 'mam.  It was like an enjoyable time machine.  
I overheard someone asked how another person was doing, and he said, "Great!  If I felt any better, I would be twins."

A lot of off-stage jamming in this house.

As we were leaving they were setting up for a covered plate dinner.

R.I.P Boyd McKeown

Eric England R.I.P.

My old ship-mate distant cousin died yesterday.  I only met him one time at a Hunter Reunion.  I took his picture because I thought our meeting was unique because at our only meeting we discovered we were both on the ship USS NEWPORT NEWS at the same time..  Later I learned he was one of the top, if not the top, sniper(s) in the Vietnam War.  From what I know, I think he was a very humbled and shy person.

I heard a few days ago they were about to amputate his leg.  Maybe that did him in.

I remember at our own meeting we talked about the NEWPORT NEWS.  I told him what I hated the most about shipboard life for enlisted men was that no matter when you go to the "head" for a bowel movement, the toilets are lined up facing one another, and it is always crowded, even in the middle of night, so when you take a shit you will be touching knees with someone you don't know very well.  He got a kick out of that.

Google Eric England and you will meet an interesting person.

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! MAD's Dragged Net

This lampoon on Dragnet is from the 3^rd issue of MAD.  Note the Sgt Friday looks nothing like Jack Webb.  That is because they were lampooning Dragnet on radio, before it was on TV.  Story by Harvey Kurtzman, art by Will Elder.

God Said:

And it came to past that God, twiddling  his thumbs said, “I’m bored, lets have a little fun…”

Help a Damaged Warrior

Most of my father’s brothers fought in World War II.  One brother was shot in the head.  The Army doctors put a metal plate in his head.  I think this was in Africa.  While there he and a buddy were enjoying the refreshments of the Red Cross and watching a bunch of sailors come ashore.  He said to his friend, “See that sailor there?  He looks exactly like my baby brother.”  And it was.

The baby brother years later was the guardian to his WWII injured older brother, which just couldn’t handle routine living after the war.  He couldn’t hold a job or deal with reality.  The war haunted him.

He spent his last 50 years or so at the Veterans’ Hospital in Milledgeville, Georgia.

Many veterans who faced combat life and/or death situations have a hard time afterwards.  They need our help.

And this is where the below flyer comes in:

click on to read

Food for Thought

The TV quiz program JEOPARDY tonight quoted some of Ecclesiastes 3:2:  A time to plant, a time to grow, die, and so on.  It also said in it that every living creature serves a purpose.

Good!  It keeps the cycle of life keeping on turning.  You never know when a species becomes extinct that it served as major link in the chain, and it is becoming extinct might cause something else to become extinct and so on.

It also brings to mind of a nature program, like National Geographic, had one time about these big amphibian creatures that hang out near the water that look something like seals.  They stay in groups and have big floppy snouts.  In the program it said they are puzzling to scientists, because they have found no purpose in the natural food chain that they contribute.

I wonder if they are possibly divine?  The whole system of life, as we know it is designed to keep these creatures comfortable and full, and they don’t have to earn it at all.

Throwback Thursday: Anthony, Opal, and Me

About 1949-50, Varnell, Georgia.  Left to right:  My first cousin Anthony Rollins, Anthony’s mother Opal, and me on the tricycle.  Anthony grew up and retired as the chief crime scene investigator in the Cobb County Sheriff’s Department and I grew up and got a bigger bike without training wheels.

Too Rich To Be Guilty

On Aprril the 1st (April Fool's Day) Ethan Couch was released from a Texas jail.  Ehan is the famous for being the Affluenza outlaw.  In a car mishap while drunk, he killed four innocent  bystanders.  His lawyer's defense strategy was to claim AFFLUENZA, wich means one is too rich and spoiled to know the difference in right and wrong.

I think there should also be a defense for poor people, maybe Poor-as-dirt-uenza, which is also a case of not knowing right from wrong, especially when it comes to feeding your family.  In the play MY FAIR LADY, the lady's father is asked, "Man!  Don't you have any scruples?!

Which the Lady's father answered, "Scruples?  What's that?  Never mind, I can't afford them!" 
Which might explain a lot.

But getting back to AFFLUENZA, too spoiled to know the difference in right and wrong.

I wonder if some people wonder if we have an AFFLUENZA president?

MLK's Death

Fifty years ago, this evening, Anna and I went to Atlanta to the Bottom of the Barrel, a pub, near Tech, off Peachtree Street.  We had reservations to see folk singer Odetta.

A man came from the back room.  He made a quick announcement:  Odetta would not be performing due to the assignation of Dr. Martin Luther King.

We left awed. 

The whole Atlanta area was deadly quiet for the next couple of days

I worked for Sinclair Refining Company on Parrott Avenue, with three huge petroleum tanks on top of the hill behind us.  Our manager heard of some people saying Atlanta was going to burn.  He told us we would have to stand guard at the tanks through the night.

I was wondering how I was going to talk myself out of that assignment when the higher ups decided against it.  I don’t remembered if they hired professional guards to watch the tanks or not.

One of our Sinclair Service Station owners provided the mule that pulled the wagon MLK’s body was on.

I think everybody that I know of was very respectful except the Governor at that time.

LATER:  It was put on the news, in relation to the MLK assignation to be on the lookout for a white Mustang with a certain state’s license plate.  We had about five salaried Sinclair Service Stations in Atlanta.  The manager of the one at Peachtree and 14^th Streets called me and said the white Mustang that was on the news was in the station that same moment and wanted the number to call.  I don’t remember if we found it to tell him or not.  I was the last voice to talk to Barry that is known.

Barry disappeared, probably forever.

Barry’s wife had a hard time making ends meet.  She had to wait a year of Barry being missing to have him declared legally  dead for life insurance and to sell stuff in his name.  I bought their  PV544 Volvo.

I Already Know That

Soccer ball, right?

I knew it!  I knew it!  Facebook has labeled me as a "Moderate".  I knew that all along.  Many have thought of me as an extreme liberal.  Not true!   I am middle of he road.  And monetarily I am more conservative than average I think.

But also, Facebook said I am a soccer fan?  The only thing I know about soccer is what the ball looks like.

Party to Help the GIs that Were Hard Hit

Click on to read better.

Happy Circus Day!

Today in America the Unofficial holiday is NATIONAL CIRCUS DAY, which celebrates the date the first circus in the was.  But. The old fashion circus is a thing of the past.  Ringling Brothers fizzed out a year or two ago.

Benjamin's Easter Visit

Sam died this date 2013

 

My life long friend Sam Carsley died on the date, 2013.

Also HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY!

HAPPY EASTER (again)!

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! MAD's #2, MOLE1

Story by editor Harvey Kurtzman; drawn by Will Elder