Hey y'all:

Hate to get commercial on your ass during the holidayzzzzzzzzzzz,

whatever...

All of us in ZERO, NORTHWEST FLORIDA
would showl 'preciate y'all
purchasing gifts from some of our resident artists.

Y'all know who they are but here's
ROBERTOREG'S TOP 5 ZERO, NW FL
ARTISTS:
(We THINK
Outside the ZERO
-copyright applied fo' mo' fo'!)

THE #1
ZERO, NORTHWEST FLORIDA
CHRISTMAS GIFT IS...

Alison & Robert Nix with John Daly http://www.johndaly.com/
You can listen to cuts from Alison's CD on her myspace profile page.
http://myspace.com/alisonheafner
Get a copy of this KILLER
(ed.note: inside joke for all uv us PASSION ROCK FANS-
UH, HUH BABY!, UH, HUH DARLIN'!, UH, HUH DADDY!)
CD by sending yo' money to:

SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER FOR $17.95 TO
ALISON HEAFNER
P.O.BOX 1932
BATESVILLE,MS 38606!
LET'S ROCK THIS EARTH FOR ALL IT'S WORTH!!!!!

I got a wonderful Christmas card from Alison & Robert yestiddee...
It's got a picture of a martini with a candy cane stuck in it on the front with
EGGNOG IS FOR WUSSIES.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
printed inside.
I guaranDAMNtee you
Nix wuz dah one who underlined the word
"wussies".

Alison wrote :

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO MY ROCK-N-ROLL ROBERT!!

I miss you so much in front of the stage!
I'm addicted to yo' vide!

I know you're gonna have a great Christmas.

Tell your son "Hello",
and we would love to meet him!

HO! HO! HO!

Alison

Nix wrote:

Roberto,

YOU DA MAN WID DA PLAN!

THE HOST WID DA MOST FROM COAST TO COAST!

DA BOSS WID DA HOT SAUCE!

CAN'T WAIT FOR '08!

GOD LOVES YOU &
SO DO WE!!

YOUR FRIEND,
SANTA NIX

THE #2
ZERO, NORTHWEST FLORIDA
CHRISTMAS GIFT IS...




We are so happy that Coach Bryant's autobiography was reprinted this year
with a CD of him speaking about his life & that
our song, THE DAY BEAR BRYANT DIED,
was chosen as the theme music for the CD.

This is another KILLER CD.
You can hear samples of every cut & purchase the CD @ http://daybeardied.com
The CD is also available at all Bama Fever stores along with Alabama Book Store & The Supe Store.
& please visit our myspace site
http://myspace.com/paulbearbryant

THE #3
ZERO, NORTHWEST FLORIDA CHRISTMAS GIFT IS...
BILLY JOE ROYAL'S NEW CD
GOING BY DAYDREAMS

image courtesy of http://www.myspace.com/officialbillyjoeroyal

GOING BY DAYDREAMS is now available by mail from Billy Joe's myspace site or from his page on B.J. Thomas' website http://www.bjthomasmusic.com/billy-joe-royal.htm

Please go to both these sites to hear this superb collection of some of Billy Joe Royal's finest work.
If you see fit, please purchase the CD & encourage anyone on the Internet to link to the two sites above & have any journalist interested in interviewing Billy Joe to contact me & I'll arrange for Billy Joe to talk with them.

This is really important to our future here in ZERO, NORTHWEST FLORIDA so take a little time out of your busy day to give Billy Joe Royal's recording career a little push!

This cat has an absolutely flawless delivery and Billy Joe's voice seems to grow more beautiful as he grows older. He has a natural feel for what sounds right & he never misses a note.
These days Billy Joe Royal goes by the label of a Country artist but he brings along with that package 50 years of Rock & Roll, Gospel and Rhythm & Blues influences.
Billy Joe Royal is a master at doing exactly what he does best:
BEING BILLY JOE ROYAL!






JOE BILLY Singing his 1969 hit CHERRY HILL PARK at Bull Shoals Theatre in August '04 courtesy of http://bullshoalstheater.com/billy-joe-royal/
Click here to see more of Billy Joe Royal and listen to "Down In The Boondocks", "Cherry Hill Park" and others http://bullshoalstheater.com/billy-joe-royal/

"Joe Billy is one of the best guys around.
You've never known a person so unencumbered with celebrity.
Loves a good joke, or story, and is the type of guy that wishes well of everyone,and was an inspiration to me.
Not just for how he could sing but for how he treated people."
Rockin' Rodney Justo

Here's what Billy Joe had to say about his days before he was a successful recording artist when he was the featured performer Buddy Livingston & the Versitones (Versatiles?) at Savannah's Bamboo Ranch:

“When you’re young and your voice is just developing, if you sing five hours a night, six nights a week, you’re going to improve. We’d book in these big names like the Isley Brothers and
Sam Cooke, and I got the chance to know these people and watch them. When somebody did
something I thought was really cool, I had all this time on stage to work on it. You know, if they
had a spin or a vocal inflection, I’d just practice it until I got it right. I’d take whatever I liked,
whatever worked, and I just stored everything.”

THE #4
ZERO, NORTHWEST FLORIDA CHRISTMAS GIFT IS...
The Bronze Medal Edition of THE HEEEY BABY DAYS OF BEACH MUSIC

check it out @ http://heybabydays.com/HBD_Bronze_Medal_Edition.htm

& THE #5
ZERO, NORTHWEST FLORIDA CHRISTMAS GIFT IS...

The soul rises again: Old music studio reopens (LISTEN to songs)

by Kari C. Barlow
Tuesday May 15, 2007 http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/5288




VALPARAISO — Ain’t no way you’re sitting still in the newly renovated Playground Recording Studio. http://playgroundrecordingstudio.com/

One of the most inspirational things that's happened to me today was learning for the first time about the life of Hiram Rhodes Revels who was the first Black man to serve in the Congress and who took over Jefferson Davis' Mississippi Senate Seat when he was sworn in as the REPUBLICAN SENATOR FROM MISSISSIPPI at 4:40 P. M. on Friday, February 25, 1870.




image courtesy of http://collections.mdch.org/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/mdaa&CISOPTR=203&DMSCALE=60.00000&DMWIDTH=600&DMHEIGHT=600&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=%20Fifteenth&REC=1&DMTHUMB=0&DMROTATE=0


We have really made some progress in uncovering
THE RADICAL SELF-GENERATING CELLS OF LEFT WING
KITTEN HUGGING KNUCKLEHEAD KOOKS
who are being allowed to anonymously trash
THE GOOD NAME OF THE REGISTERS
on The Tuscaloosa News Forum site.
We now know that one of the perpetrators is tall, has shoulder length hair & that
He changes his screen name about once a week now.
He also went to County High, lives at Meadowbrook or Midtown, has worked as a census taker, and is connected with the humane shelter or T-Town Paws.

The boy don't know who he's playing with
but his family, business associates, employers & affiliates will soon know.

The po' boy has played HELL!

Please check out all the music Bama Queen has posted on John Rainey's site
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=198156299

Ka$h & Skynfan:

Please urge your readership to vote for the Florida Music Hall of Fame. Let's get the Duane Allmans and the Fred Neils get elected, and not the N Syncs and the Backstreet Boys.

Here's the link:

Vote now for the inaugural inductees to the Florida Music Hall of Fame at FloridaHOF.com

Best,
rr

Hey y'all:

I just wanna thank Cowarts/Avon's Robert Mims for the Mar-Teks CD.
Takes me back to THE MERMAID ROOM everytime I hear it.

John Earl has done all uv us Chukker bar flies a favor by publishing a bunch of his shots from over the years:
http://web.mac.com/earl_john/Chukker/Images_from_its_strange_and_twisted_past.html



Roberto,

Debbie Bond http://www.alabamablues.org/state.htm
is correct.
There was a thriving
underground booze/sin business in both dry and wet
counties.

My grandfather Arthur Lee (Dee) Hodges had a large
farm in Hodgesville, south of Dothan. He grew the
standard cash crops of the time, cotton, peanuts and
corn, but also smaller acreages of peas, butterbeans,
watermelons, cantalopes, cucumbers, onions, squash,
tomatoes, potatoes etc for family use and for sale at
roadside stands. He also had pecan and pear orchards.
But in a low lying area which was almost always wet,
he grew sugar cane. He had a small cane mill at which
he processed cane juice which he sold to the locals
for refreshment. I remember that most of his customers
were black neighbors who according to rumor distilled
the cane juice to make rum. Rum seemed to be preferred
in our area over white lite'nin. My grandfather died
in 1959, and he closed the cane mill in 1957 or so
when his health got bad. He was born in 1882 and was a
farmer all his life. I think he grew sugar cane all
through the prohibition era and probably much of it
was turned into rum.

Also, I worked at the A&P on Main St in the late 60s.
Every Saturday morning, A black woman from Dale County
(which was dry) who everybody called "Big Mary" and
her 5 sons (none as big as her - well, she might
could've beaten Ralph Barber in a rasslin' match),
in-laws, and bodyguards showed up at the A&P to buy
chips, pickled pigs feet, pickled sausages, olives and
many many cases of different brands of beer. She would
always pull out a huge roll of $ from between
her breasts and pay in cash. Of course Homer Hart who
recognized a good customer when he saw one, always
gave her a good discount. (In dollars spent at the
A&P, Big Mary was probably second only to the guy who
ran the "Cellar" who also showed up every Saturday to
pick up his weekly order of prime steaks) We would
take out her "groceries" to her cars, usually three
big station wagons which were already nearly loaded
with pints and half-pints of varieties of "legal"
booze purchased at the ABC Greenfront store. There's
no telling how much shine and other uncontrolled
substances she distributed in dry Dale county to make
life there a little less boring.

Jim


You know how you hear all this stuff about MONSTERS ON THE INTERNET.
Favorite story right now on the news.
Well, imagine someone took your portrait, your name & your Internet screen name & began posting anonymous lies about you on a public forum.
Would you want your children to read that?
Well, that's what's happened to me.

& the institution responsible is the Tuscaloosa News (owned by The New York Times).
They have allowed these chumps to do this anonymously on their Internet forums.

Long time residents of ZERO, NORTHWEST FLORIDA
know two words have never come from this keyboard:
RUSH LIMBAUGH!

Which brings me to Rush Limbaugh.

image courtesy of http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_092807/content/01125106.guest.html

RUSH SEZ:
They cannot beat us in the arena of ideas.
They cannot challenge what we say and refute it and come out on top, so this is the anatomy of a smear.
I'll show you how it works when we come back after the break.

To give an idea of how sick this shit is...
Right now if you google "Robert Register" "tuscaloosa news"
you git
this little sample:

Elementary school teacher suspended for alleged misconduct - Topic ...

Ignored post by Robert Register posted. 24 October 2007 07:05 PM. Show Post .... Contact Us | The Tuscaloosa News | Privacy Statement | Terms of Service ... forums.tuscaloosanews.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5981059265/m/3821057266 - 118k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Bush: Hey, Big Spender! - Topic Powered by eve community

My name really is Robert Register & I sincerely want to meet the cat who has .... Contact Us | The Tuscaloosa News | Privacy Statement | Terms of Service ... forums.tuscaloosanews.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5981059265/m/8821057266/p/1 - 119k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Who is qtpie? - Topic Powered by eve community

The Tuscaloosa News The Tuscaloosa News Community Forums Hop To Forum ..... Contact Us | The Tuscaloosa News | Privacy Statement | Terms of Service ... forums.tuscaloosanews.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5981059265/m/3811004466/p/1 - 122k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

THIS Is Democracy - Topic Powered by eve community

Ursus, the champion of democracy and all things Robert Register. ... Contact Us | The Tuscaloosa News | Privacy Statement | Terms of Service ... forums.tuscaloosanews.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5981059265/m/7131099266 - 91k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

End of The World is Coming on Dec. 21st., 2012 - Topic Powered by ...

... Ursus the Ineffectual, and Original Formula Robert Register. ... 21st., 2012. Contact Us | The Tuscaloosa News | Privacy Statement | Terms of Service ... forums.tuscaloosanews.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5981059265/m/3001088266 - 116k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

The most irresistible poster! - Topic Powered by eve community

I didn't see at first that Robert Register is copywrit. ... Contact Us | The Tuscaloosa News | Privacy Statement | Terms of Service ... forums.tuscaloosanews.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5981059265/m/9271098266/p/2 - 115k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

New members -- callin' ya out! - Topic Powered by eve community

Especially Robert Register... Ursus, have you been sending out those embossed ... Contact Us | The Tuscaloosa News | Privacy Statement | Terms of Service ...
forums.tuscaloosanews.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5981059265/m/7751086266 - 70k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Right now, if you google my internet name robertoreg "tuscaloosa news"
you get
this little sample:

Fans of the troll action - Topic Powered by eve community

Site, The Tuscaloosa News Community. Servlet, eve1da012. Version, 1.2.21 build 9029 ... Logout: The Tuscaloosa News Community Update Groupee Account ... forums.tuscaloosanews.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5981059265/m/2811093876 - 118k - 20 hours ago - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Bush: Hey, Big Spender! - Topic Powered by eve community

Originally posted by robertoreg: My name really is Robert Register & I .... Contact Us | The Tuscaloosa News | Privacy Statement | Terms of Service ...
forums.tuscaloosanews.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5981059265/m/8821057266 - 119k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this


I have not even looked at the latest blowout which occurred yesterday.

THE SORRY LEFT WING MUDHEADS
AT THE TUSCALOOSA NEWS WILL NOT
ALLOW YOU TO KNOW THE IDENTITIES OF
OF THE PEOPLE TRASHING
me
ON THE INTERNET
COURTESY OF THEIR F**KIN' WEBSITE!

BEST,
rr

from
ANTHONY HUTCHINS: A PIONEER OF THE OLD SOUTHWEST
by Ethan Grant, published in FLORIDA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The Natchez area was not officially acquired by the United
States until 1798, but the beginning of the transition began in 1797

26. Carroll Ainsworth McElligott, “1792 Census of Natchez,” The Genealogical and
Historical Magazine of the South, Vol. 1, no. 1, and Vol. 2, no. 2.

The practice of
hiring slaves out was common at Natchez. The large number of slaves owned by
Ellis and others represented not only an investment which multiplied itself, but
also a source of continuing income.

27. McBee, Natchez Court Records, 207.

Incidents such as this one were the most serious
character flaws of Hutchins. Compounding this vindictiveness, he had a tendency
to curry favor and engage in self-promotion. Just one example of this is a
letter sent directly to Lord George Germain after his ambush “crushed” the
Willing raid on Natchez, CO 5/594:475-482.
Hutchins made sure the letter was
entered in the Minutes in Council of April 23, 1778 in Pensacola as well.
This
combination of faults caused hurt feelings and created enemies on occasion.
It is obvious that by 1795, the Spanish not only recognized his abilities and made
use of them, but clearly made allowance for his tendency to be spiteful.
with the arrival of Andrew Ellicott.

Accompanied by a group of soldiers
he was there to draw the boundaries of the area to be ceded.
His situation was tenuous because not all area residents were reconciled
to the change, and many others feared turmoil during the
transition.

Ellicott was a Quaker from Pennsylvania and a competent surveyor.
He arrived at Natchez on February 24, 1797 and, styling himself
as an ambassador rather than merely a tradesman hired to
draw a boundary, he asked for permission to meet with Governor
Manuel Gayoso to present his “credentials.”

This well-meaning, if
stubborn and intolerant surveyor, took it upon himself to effect an
immediate transfer of sovereignty. His imperious and adamant
manner soon caused his relations with the governor to deteriorate,
and the public grew restless when Gayoso began to stall for time.

Ellicott’s personality and opinions grated on the community.
In one case, he wrote his secretary that the people of the district
were
the most abandoned villains who have escaped from the
chains and prisons of Spain and been convicted of the
blackest crimes.

Natchez, from the perverseness of some of
the people, and the ebreity [drunkenness] of the negroes
and Indians on Sundays, has become an abominal place.

A further irritant to those hoping for a quiet transfer of flags was Ellicott’s
unabashed support for those agitating for immediate cession
rather than the six-month transition stipulated in the Treaty of
San Lorenzo.

Andrew Ellicott was well known in the 1780s. He had a varied career as a mathematics
professor and surveyor. He entered government service in 1791 to survey
the new District of Columbia. When Toussant L’Enfant was fired as designer of
the new capitol city, Ellicott, replaced him. His personality soon caused his dismissal
as well, but his qualities as a surveyor led to continued governmental
appointments, the last of which was the survey of the Mississippi and Louisiana
line, Dictionary of American Biography (New York, 1931), 6:89-90.

Andrew Ellicott, The Journal of Andrew Ellicott (Chicago, 1962), 208.

His lens on the area was obviously warped. Most of the populace were quite ordinary, and
drunken Indians and slaves were a testimony to the tolerance of the authorities.

Journal of Captain Isaac Guion, Mississippi Archives, Record Group 2, Territorial
Governor, files I, 2.

The accord, also known as Pinckney’s Treaty, was signed
in 1795 but implementation of it dragged on until 1797.

The self-styled diplomat, general, and governor had in his
company about 40 transients who came along in expectation of adventure
and opportunity at Natchez.

On June 10, 1797 he gathered
these camp followers and some local residents for a tumultuous
meeting which threatened to become a riot.

In response to Ellicott’s excuses, many of the elite of the district
met at the tavern of William Belk that same evening. This impromptu
assembly elected a Committee of Safety. Four of its six
members were British settlers Anthony Hutchins, Cato West, Bernard
Lintot, and William Ratliff. The other two were Gabriel
Benoist and Joseph Bernard, both of whom had moved to the district
before 1789.

They submitted to Gayoso and the provincial governor, Baron
de Carondelet, a proposal simply to remain loyal subjects of Spain
until the transfer of sovereignty took place. The militia would be
used only in the slight chance of Indian attack or to suppress riots.
Until the change of flags, the laws of Spain would prevail. In a display
of their loyalty, during the height of unrest in mid-June, militia
units mustered each night at the fort and relieved the Spanish garrison
so the soldiers could get some rest.

The Spanish authorities agreed to the proposal, and with a
united front supporting the leadership of the district, the populace
calmed down and the short-lived Natchez Revolt of 1797 ended.
The hastily assembled Committee of Safety became formally constituted
with elections held in September.
Stephen Minor, acting Spanish governor of Natchez, agreed to
the election, and a proposed procedure outlined in a letter from
Anthony Hutchins. The letter called for an election
to be held in the town of Natchez, and in the separate
beats of the district, to elect such Agent and such Committee,
on Saturday, the second day of September next. And
that the polls be opened at 10 A.M., and not closed until

31. Claiborne, Mississippi, 170.
32. Ibid.; Jack D. I.. Holmes, Gayoso: The Life of a Spanish Governor of the Mississippi
Valley, 1789-1799 (Baton Rouge, 1965), 193.

A militia composed of units of foot,
calvary, and artillery was established possibly as early as 1784, but certainly by
1793. That year and the next, units were sent to New Orleans in response to a
rebellion by French Jacobins seeking to establish a republic.

sunset, under the direction of an Alcalde and one responsible
citizen of the respective beats.

For a people unaccustomed to elections for nearly 20 years, the
preparations and conditions were thorough and detailed. Ballots
would be counted and certified by a commission composed of one
member representing each of the interested parties: the United
States, the inhabitants, and the Spanish authorities. Chosen for this
role were Andrew Ellicott, Adam Bingamin, and John Girault, any
two of whom could certify a ballot.
Spanish toleration of an election was irregular and untraditional,
but a great deal of pragmatic bending of their colonial practices
had occurred since 1779. Even more striking were the
qualifications for voting. Any white male of eighteen years of age
known to be a resident, whether or not he owned property, could
vote. This liberal qualification would not be matched in the United
States for another generation.

DB:

Tell Willie that I used to teach with Louie Coleman's daughter and that I know all the rules because Simon Dunn taught me.

I started asking around about electric guitars in juke joints & my old buddy told me that the first blues artists he saw using electric guitars were Muddy Waters & Howling Wolf when they played the Ace Club over in the West End in the early Sixties.

He says the piano & the acoustic guitar were the main instruments at the house parties.

My friend still works but he hangs out with that bunch that plays dominoes at the shack on the 2600 block of 21st Street just east of Radio Cab at the foot of Peanut Hill by the railroad tracks. He hangs out with all those old cats who sit in chairs beside that old house the fire department just burned down.
Now those boys would get you doing your homework on Alabama blues!

best,
rr

P.S. Bootlegging in Tuscaloosa was controlled by people like Mem Tierce & Dee Cunningham but in Greene County a black guy was MR. BIG. His name was Landis(?) Brown. Sam Wainwright told me he walked into over 20 stills in Greene County while he was surveying a straight line for I 20-59 back in the late Fifties/early Sixties.

From Debbie Bond http://www.alabamablues.org/state.htm

Brilliant Robert....those are the folks we need to talk to!

KF:

This movie premiere here Feb. 4 has gotten me fired up because I don't care how left wing these kooks happen to be...
if they got MEDIA,
I they friend.

Think about this:
THE CRIMSON CURTAIN would not allow Gump to be filmed on campus.

Anywayzzzzzzzzzz:

Here are some ideas for Dothan articles:

I've been studying Black owned businesses in Tuscaloosa (i.e. colored juke joints) by going through the 1963 R.L. Polk City Directory. I predict that you will find far more Black-owned businesses in Dothan City Directories published during segregation (i.e. cafes)
than you will find in the current editions.

Did you know that the Mexican Air Force that fought the Japanese in WWII earned their wings at Napier Field?
They were under the same command as the Tuskegee Airmen but you've never heard of them...
The Mexican Expeditionary Air Force, 201st Fighter Squadron received their wings at Napier Field in 1945. This was the only Mexican unit to conduct combat overseas during World War II. The Army Air Corps used a lot of British instructors at Napier Field and pilots from many Latin American countries, Ireland, England, France, Spain and China received their wings there.
Click here for the Mexican unit's history:http://www.military.com/HomePage/UnitPageFullText/1,13476,701286,00.html
http://www.firstlookmedia.com/films/mayorofthesunsetstrip/index.html

Did you know that the Seminole Indians officially declared war on the United States in Houston County, Alabama in August of 1799?

Did you know that the ONLY Indian village cut in half by the 381 mile long international boundary line between the U.S. & Spain surveyed between the Mississippi and Chattahoochee (circa 1799) was in Houston County, Alabama?

Have you ever seen wooden grave markers or sheltered graves in Houston County?

Did you know that THE LOCATION OF THE OLDEST LAND TITLES IN THE FLORIDA'S FIRST BOOK OF AMERICAN LAND PATENTS are now LOCATED In HOUSTON COUNTY, ALABAMA?

Did you know that the Biggest Real Estate Deal In American History occurred in Houston County, Alabama? (1.4 million acres)

A little food for thought...

Best,
rr

These folks look like they know what they're doing...
http://www.themaineventweb.com/me/upcoming.html

Hey y'all:

Bruhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

My little world is changing & I don't like it!

The big power line pushing this urban renewal has made it to the east side of Lurleen South right 'cross the skreet from my little deck where I bar-b-que in the non-existent backyard of 2609 University Boulevard. (I encroach on a daily basis- IT'S GOOD FOR THE SOUL- LIKE PLAYING "INDIAN")

Frist thing this morning I'm in Anders & I say to everybody,"Man, this time last Monday I was with that shell-shocked cat who cleaned up the mess on 6th Street from that dude who got shot through the eyeball."

The guy next to me said,"I cleaned up that last murder on Reid Street about 3 years ago."

Oh. Oh. Oh.
What a story!

About 3 or 4 years ago, a cat pisses off some rube at the
Bar on the Strip & the rube chases the cat down Reid Street
& the cat breaks into an occupied apartment to get away from the rube
and then goes into the kitchen and finds a knife and stabs the rube to get him off of him
and then the rube completely bleeds out while he jumps & runs all over the apartment complex.

He left a bloody mess.

Anywayzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

As a public service, the Tuscaloosa Fire Department washed all this fresh blood off the swimming pool patio, the foyers, the sidewalks, the balconies and the street in front of the apartment complex on Reid Street...
Common courtesy...

No. No! NO!

When Huge, the owner of the apartment complex, found out he was gonna have to fill up his swimming pool because the fire department USED HIS WATER to wash the fresh blood off his own property, he said,
"I'm gonna BILL THE CITY for having to fill that pool back up!"

The maintenance man at Anders advised his boss to just accept the favor & go on with his life.

Man, one thing that keeps me going is competition & around here,
We beat the day to day grind
by identifying trophy mount oppottamusses.
I went to the Pig today for some leg quarters they had on sale,
& I saw one so big an alarm went off when she backed up her shopping cart!
She were a D-9!
I swear she gotta walk sideways to get down the hall of her crib!

I got a wonderful letter today from Robert Mims who played keyboards for the Mar-Teks back in '67.



I had forgotten about this picture. It was a publicity
shot taken in 1967 somewhere around Dothan.

The members of the band (l to r): Jimmy Watford
(vocals), Stanley Jones (drums), Jimmy Johnson (lead
guitar), Charlie Roberts (bass), and Robert Mims
(keyboard).
-Robert Mims

Another picture of The Mar-Teks taken in
Dothan at the National Peanut Festival.

Robert,
Here is The Mar-Teks CD I promised you.

"If I'm Gonna Be Your Man" and "Don't Take It Out On Me" were recorded at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

"You Left Me" and "Mar-Tek-ing" were recorded at Owen Bradley's Red Barn Studio in Nashville ("Twinkletoes" and "Merry Christmas To Michael" are both owned by Owen Bradley. He asked us to record a demo for him while we were recording at the Red Barn.)

"I Played Around With Love Too Long" and "My Homework Must Be Done" were recorded by Jimmy Watford after The Mar-Teks broke up.

I hope you enjoy our "crack at stardom" and once again, Thanks for bringing back memories of the Fabulous 60's.

Robert Mims
The Mar-Teks (1967)

P.S. Please excuse the recording quality. The CD was burned from some old 45's that I found.

RM:

I'm Mar-Tek-Ing as we speak.
Can't quit replaying that song!
Shades of ANDRE THE MAGICIAN meets THE VENTURES.

Luv it!
Thank you so much for sharing this with me.

Heaps of the best,
rr

Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 11:44 PM

Subject: RE: Alabama Blues Project Update - Winter 2007

Debbie,
Robert Register here.

I love Love LOVE everything I've seen on this Honeydripper movie.
I'm gonna do my homework on this one but here's the thing that jumped out at me right off the bat.

I'm from Dothan & Dothan has almost always been Wet & has always had "colored juke joints" & my buddies from Dothan were some of the first white musicians to play the blues in these clubs in the mid-Sixties & I used to go down to Baptist Bottom on the weekends to watch my friends play. Nobody ever carded us white boys and we were always welcome.

One mo' thang, my Uncle Frank owned a candy/fireworks/beauty aids/novelties company in Americus, GA and I worked with him in the summers in the early Sixties so I visited a lot of "colored juke joints" & pool halls during the daytime hours when I was in my early teens.

Which brings me to Tuscaloosa...
As far as I know, in the early fifties, THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE "COLORED JUKE JOINT" IN TUSCALOOSA.
Of course, that's understandable when you consider that Tuscaloosa was dry until '56 but the scene in this town was at the "house parties" & the Tuscaloosa Police Department did a land office business in busting up the house parties over in "colored quarters."

I know some old heads in the community who can give me more information on this.

I'm gonna do my homework so you can give Mr.Sayles & his ladyfriend some good information when they come to town.

Best,
rr

Dear Robert,

I am so happy you are interested in the John Sayles (director) and Maggie Renzi (producer) film that we are bringing to the Bama - and your interest in the blues culture thing!

There is so much important work that needs to be done in this area. Everyone has studied mississippi blues until the cows come home but have over looked Alabama - big time.

I attached my MA thesis (its not too long!) - it is an oral history study that gives a little glimpse and suggestive of the blues culture that has been here all along the way. I know a little VERY LITTLE but some about Dothan because I did an interview with Eddie Kirkland that spent his early life there and got his start in juke joints in that area.

Sadly, so little has been done on Tuscaloosa. Big Bo mentions juke joints in Tuscaloosa...I hope its in my paper...if not I can go back to my interview with him. He mentions an area along the rail road tracks somewhere in Tuscaloosa that had several juke houses.

It is a mistake to think that have juke joints has anything to do with things being wet or dry. During prohibition Alabama was one of the bigest producers of illigal whiskey.

I hear story after story about the underground economy that African Americans created in prohibition and in dry counties.... through the 20s 30s 40s and 50s to this day - where the sherrif gets a kickback from the juke joint owners and still owners. Willie King has lots of those stories himself...he made moon shine, had a juke joint in Pickens co .....I know of lots of old blues players from that county many of them now dead. People had house parties (turned their own homes in to juke joints). Willie's grandmother had a juke joint in Pickens co. Sadly we haven't got a lot of information about Tuscaloosa county...but I know they existed - and even in my 30 years here they have existed.

The history dept is hoping to do some work on this area so if you have any ideas of people to talk to let please let us know! It is so important that this stuff is uncovered and the only way is by talking to the old folks.

Best wishes,

Debbie Bond

http://www.alabamablues.org

Robert~

I am watching The History Channel Special right now. The song "Bookends" made me cry.

I spoke with Teresa again tonight. David is having surgery tomorrow to try and rid his body of the infection that is raging. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital this morning with blood oozing from his legs. Hopefully, they can save them and his life.
KEEP PRAYING!!
BQ http://myspace.com/fiddledeedeeme

p.s. The new music is up on John Rainey's page...Go Listen!{ed. note : STORMY MONDAY WAY BEFO' DOOWANG!!!! The old gal picked up the gauntlet!!!! Check out the six new tunes w/ John Rainey @ http://www.myspace.com/adkinsjohnrainey


SOLAR ICE http://www.photographybyearl.net/
John Earl's latest...

1968: You Had to Be There

By Judith S. Gillies

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 9, 2007; Page Y03

For Tom Brokaw, his new special on 1968 is a virtual reunion as people -- some famous, some not -- reflect on the lessons of that time.

"You know, when you go back to a reunion of your college class or your high school class," Brokaw said. "It gets around to: 'What did I learn? How have I changed?'"

And Brokaw hopes the two-hour look at the tumultuous year will spur viewers to reflect on that time.

The TV program has its roots in his latest book, "Boom! Voices of the Sixties" (Random House, $28.95), he said, because "1968 was really the nerve center of the '60s."

Among those interviewed: musicians Arlo Guthrie, Michelle Phillips and Bruce Springsteen; comedians Lewis Black, Tommy Smothers and Jon Stewart; the politically involved Andrew Young, who was with Martin Luther King Jr. when he was assassinated; Pat Buchanan, then a speechwriter for presidential candidate Richard Nixon; and Robin Morgan, a feminist leader.

"This is history being told by the people who experienced it and witnessed it," said David McKillop, an executive producer of "1968 With Tom Brokaw," and head of programming for History Channel.

"The stories are told using the pronouns of 'me and I and we,' rather than 'they, them and those,' so they are very personal stories," McKillop said. The program will help put the events of 1968 in perspective for people who lived through that year, he said, while younger viewers will be able to see and understand what their parents and grandparents experienced.

check it out @ http://heybabydays.com/HBD_Bronze_Medal_Edition.htm

RE: Please blog on your Zero site! (And any others!)

Thanks for your help! Dothan is actually in 7th place, (out of 21) and has a fair chance if we can get a couple of hundred more votes. Thanks again for your help!
(Everyone at Dothan Magazine
http://dothanmagazine.com/current.php
also says Hi!)
-Kerry

PS- Your 'Hoity-toity T-town society types & their Left Wing Kook hippy counterparts' didn't even submit a video, so they should have no complaints when the Wiregrass kicks their butt!