Saturday, January 26, 2008

Hey y'all:

Ya know I'm sitting in a club listening to some kool blues &
BAM!
SOME SHITHEAD BLEW HIMSELF UP!

It happened in this blues club on the beach.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GJyMkDVoYU

I started thinking about challenging people to post their reminiscences &
then the mirror came up in front
of my ugly face &
I realized I needed to do some reminiscing on my own time.

Johnny Woods, Don Thomley and I went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras in ' 72.
Even though Al Hirt
got hurt in '70,

image courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Hirt

they still had parades in the French Quarter.
It was wild.

I'm pretty sure some of the pictures weren't burned.

Anywayzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

This cat called me and said, "Do you remember what you said when I asked you, "WHAT'S THE GREATEST BOOK YOU EVER READ?"

"What'd I say, ABSALOM, ABSALOM?"

"Naw, CATCH 22!"

"So, what?"

"Well, your post sounded like you just discovered the book."

"I wanted it to be
FRESH!



Leslie Got Her CERTIFICATION FOR NURSE ANESTHETIST!

Hey y'all:

Both the Birmingham News http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1201338917172750.xml&coll=2&thispage=4
and the Tuscaloosa News http://tuscaloosanews.com/
published tributes to Coach Bryant today on the 25th anniversary of his death.
Online the Birmingham News published a photo gallery of Coach Bryant's life and a photo gallery of his impact 25 years after his death.

Fox 6 in Birmingham http://media.myfoxal.com/bryant/index.html
has posted extensive archival footage of Coach Bryant's death, funeral, procession and burial.

It all reminds us of the words of the song...


The day he was born
GOD gave us one of a kind
& I'm glad he did
'Cause heroes are so hard to find
Many a fine young man
He led into battle
He taught them to win
He turned boys into men

ROLL TIDE!!!!

ROLL TIDE!!!!

The Nation cried!
Friend & foe alike
The Legend lives on!
The HERO is gone!
OH! How I cried
The Day Bear Bryant Died.

ROLL TIDE!!!!

ROLL TIDE!!!!

Best,
Roberto



Kind of morbid but interesting-
The Story of THE SHROUD OF BEAR...
http://www.rammerjammeryellowhammer.com/weblog/archives/2005/11/found_the_shrou_2.html


Kool video from youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciwHUA118Z8

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Roberto---
My first foray into show biz was on Barbara Gellerstedt's TV show at WTVY in the mid-fifties. I was (for real) a practicing ventriloquist with dummy and everything. It was a Boy Scout show. I still have the script. I think my father wrote it and it is just awful. They taped it to the bottom of the camera since I wasn't about to memorize it. Out of vanity, I didn't wear my glasses and was as nearsighted as a mole. Every time the camera man backed his camera up for a wide shot, I stepped forward and followed him, all the way across the little studio, until I finally had him pinned into a corner. My mother said I scowled the whole show. Actually, I was just trying to read the script. One thing I do remember---Barbara Gellerstedt was HOT!!!
Jimmy Dean


image courtesy of John Earl http://www.photographybyearl.net/

Hey y'all:

Frank Tanton http://www.myspace.com/thebopcats
posted a trailer for the movie SKIPTRACERS http://www.myspace.com/skiptracersmovie
on his myspace site.

There's all kinds of Dothan references in the trailer.

One of Barbara Gellerstedt's grandsons is involved in this show.
Barbara gave me my start in show business.
She had a show on in the afternoons on Channel 9 up on TV Road.
In May of 1956, she let me sing and dance SIXTEEN TONS on her show,
& as they say,
THE REST WAS HISTORY.
(Our maid Rosa taught me the dance while she was ironing & Lord,
when Aunt Marie stole her from Mama, it about broke up the family!)


kf:

I gotta new idea for an article.
Once we deliver ONE article that captures the attention of your team of editors,
your readers will want more of the same stuff.

7110.2 feet of all the land in Houston County south of Lucy just above Chattahoochee State Park was in Florida until 1854. In fact, in the U.S. Public Lands, all of that land in Houston County, Alabama continues to be defined by the Tallahassee meridian & baseline so that means the place a footstep south of where the St. Stephens baseline hits the Chattahoochee River at the end of that dirt road that goes through the Fitch place is the northern most point on the public lands survey that legally defines the land in Key West and in the Dry Tortugas.

I made this ADDRESS TO THE SOUTHERN BOUNDARY SYMPOSIUM in the Mock Trial Court Room in the Mobile County Building there on Government Street in the second week of April, '99.
While I was giving the speech, I commented that the last time Alabama attempted to annex Northwest Florida was in the early Sixties when a Mobile County legislator proposed the legislation but Governor Wallace killed it.

This big guy with black hair in the back of the courtroom raised his hand and yelled, "That was me!"

That man was John Tyson, Sr. and I really enjoyed being around him later on.
What a card!
His son, Jr., is Mobile's D.A.

Anywayzzzzzzzzzzz...

Right now we are celebrating more than simply the Bicentennial of the first U.S. Southern Boundary. What we are truly commemorating here today are 200 years of U.S. rule in what is now Alabama.

As part of this 200th anniversary of the planting of the American Flag on Alabama soil, many people in this room have worked for years to relocate the "Mound Line"
(Ellicott's True Line") on the ground. Despite the progress we have made so far, we must face the fact that no one on the face of this earth presently knows where the mound line lies on the ground.
Therefore, the legal definition of the Florida Line between the Perdido and the Chattahoochee is presently unknown, and what now serves on the ground as the 165-mile east-west boundary between Alabama and Florida is illegal.

Which brings up a very important question for many of us in this room:

"Does that mean Panama City Beach is now ours?"

Well, I promised George Ewert I wouldn't get up here and talk about going to the panhandle and taking back what was ours in the first place.
So, as a compromise, I have included in the text of my speech a chronology of fifteen major events between 1819 and 1963 which summarize Alabama's effort to annex Northwest Florida.

Instead of proposing annexation, what I would like to propose will be a brief outline of a Southern Boundary pilgrimage.
With this information, any one of us can plan an expedition leading to the discovery of how this old boundary line allows the researcher to establish a 200 year old baseline from which he may measure the alterations produced by two centuries of American civilization.
This journey will showcase the formative period of an often ignored region that is home to people who enjoy a rich cultural heritage shaped by the rivers and creeks, swamps and lime sinks, cypress domes and bluffs, cord grass marshes,
and shallow bays upon which this old line rests.

BURR OAKS- located on the campus of Jefferson College in Washington, Mississippi, these oaks are said to be the site of Aaron Burr's arraignment for treason in February of 1807


A good place to begin this excursion would be Washington, Mississippi, located five miles east of Natchez and the home of historic Jefferson College.
Ellicott chose this site as a more healthy camp ground than the hilltop his men had occupied on the east bank of the Mississippi in Natchez. While waiting for the Spanish to evacuate, Ellicott surveyed and laid out the streets of the town of Washington and the spring where his men got their water now bears his name.

In Natchez, one of the oldest buildings in town is the House on Ellicott Hill.


image courtesy of
http://www.natchezgardenclub.com/eh.htm
This impressive home was the first ever to be renovated by the Natchez Garden Club when they decided to begin their famous spring pilgrimage.
The house stands today on the site where Ellicott located the American camp and first unfurled Old Glory.

Mo' later gator-tater...

best,
rr




Northwest Florida

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

BB:

The last two days I been stirring sewage underneath Mama Kong's Gorilla Nest so I wasn't able to get your package in the mail.

It's been hairy.

The Sunday T-News wid udder stuff will be in the mail tomorrow.

I got a copy of CATCH-22 today.
I swear Yossarian was in my Daddy's bomb group.

Daddy beat Catch-22.
Even though he was a supply sergeant he was pulled out of his bunk routinely to substitute as a gunner or navigator or bombardier on a mission in one of his group's Mitchell B-25s.
He'd already contemplated suicide while sitting on the beach in North Africa so he was fully prepared when he went to his commanding officer and said,"Sir, I've decided I want to fly all the time."

His commanding officer replied,"Well, Earl, I'm not so sure about that. We need you here."

Daddy replied, "No sir, I want you to kill me just like you kill everybody else."

"No, Earl, we need you here." said his commanding officer.

DADDY NEVER FLEW AGAIN!

NOT ONE TIME IN MY LIFE

have I been so STOKED
to read a book.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22#Concept

Best,
rr

Monday, January 21, 2008

Hey y'all:


Image of cypress knees courtesy of Buddy Henry


image by Buddy Henry {y'all might not believe this but as much as I hated MLK Jr., I cried when I heard he got murdered. I was driving over to Grandma Register's house and had to pull over.
It really had nothing to do with King.
I just knew that Yankee ghettos were about to burn and innocents would die & the neighborhoods never would recover.
Unfortunately, I was right!) - RR



image by Buddy Henry


image by Buddy Henry

I'm pretty sure for the first time in my life I kept "THE URGE TO KILL" going for about 9 hours today for one of our plumbers.

When it all went to sh*t,
I told him,
"You know man you put Bible verses on your van but I don't think you're Christian.
I THINK YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE!


& you can work for our company again or you know I'm gonna see you around town from now on,

but man,
when you see me,
YOU
put your head down & keep your f*ckin' mouth shut!"

The duly elected ossifers uv dah DHS Class of '68 have not attempted to set a date for a reunion yet
but you know that royal fambly will set a date soon.

Anywayzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

I'd show like to put the push on about '68 when I go to whatever covers as the 40th anniversary of the DHS Class of '68.

I already got car tags.
The Bama tags were red & white in '68 but I don't have a Houston County[38] tag
but I want all
to see all of 'em
from the
six counties which bounded Houston County in three states.

THE DHS CLASS OF '68 wants those tags too!


Some members of
The Class of '68 Elect got petrified along the way.
Some of them got freeze-dried.
Some uv us were a little more adventurous.
We cut that Dothan Hypocrisy Shit out
but
we still love how we lived back then in '68.

We don't give a rat's ass about how THE ELECT lives right now!

Not only dat but some uv us who had a little sense
knew we were living in three states:

Adjacent Counties

Go ahead & get me a '68 Coffee County tag (19 tag),
too!!!!
Plus a '68 Covington County 23 tag!
I'd love it!

P. got to bury his sister in B'ham
even though most of the burials were canceled Sattiddee because of the ice.

Anything you can do to collect '68 artifacts will be appreciated by
ALL UV US OLD TIME MEMBERS OF
THE BLUE COD SQUAD!

Best,
rr http://snakedoctor.blogspot.com
http://cottonkingdom.blogspot.com


Sunday, January 20, 2008

Matt Hawk wrote a feature story in the BUSINESS & MONEY Section of the Tuscaloosa News today.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20080119/BRYANT_25/366750331

The story is called 'BEAR' MARKET- Bryant remains a boon to business
& carries a full page photo illustration of Coach Bryant related products. They include a houndstooth hat, a framed Daniel Moore print, a Bryant bobble head doll, the front of Bryant Bank, a Leroy Neiman painting of Bryant, THE DAY BEAR BRYANT DIED CD & the book BEAR, Coach Bryant's autobiography which includes THE DAY BEAR BRYANT DIED as the theme music for the CD of Coach Bryant which is included in the book.

Hawk quotes David Jones,owner of ALABAMA BOOK STORE extensively in the article:

Jones said the university, for undisclosed reasons, stopped approving the use of its logos on houndstooth pattern products around December 2006. He said he only imagine the royalties the university is missing out on.

"It's just an untold amount of money, " Jones said. "You'd think they'd want it, but I guess not."


image courtesy of the http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/section/bryant_25

Hey y'all:

Boy, I wanna hug Ant's old Sicilian neck for doing that oil painting of the Coach.

Please do yourself a favor and join myspace.com so you can read Rick Hirsch's blog on Tippy Armstrong's myspace page. You don't have to join myspace to hear Tippy's music.
All ya gotta do izzzzzzzzzzzzzz click on
http://www.myspace.com/tippyarmstrong

Went to dah 'Ham today.
Snow closed the Bright Star so we headed toward Little Vietnam and the snowmen of the West End. {teee-hee}

Canceled all the funerals today with the exception of one.
I sho' hope it was the one for P.'s sister.

B'ham is still IN SHOCK from that ice storm that shut 'em down for about a week back in the early '90s.

SO KEWL to drive down SYPHILIS OUTBREAK ALLEY, all the way to downtown, and not see hardly one car or crack slinger.

Got so hip on the Pompeii exhibit that I was able to show my son some stuff that wasn't in the book or the exhibit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotic_art_in_Pompeii
THERE'S CONCLUSIVE PROOF IN THE LINK ABOVE THAT THE SCULPTORS OF POMPEII STUDIED UNDER AUBURN PROFESSORS!!!!
THESE IMAGES ARE CONTROVERSIAL!

Right when Christopher and I crossed 8th Avenue North after the exhibit-
Oh, man, WE SAW a hoopty ride wid 30' inch tires!

Mayor Larry tightened up Linn Park after last Sattiddee'zzzzzzzz
fiasco.
Nice and cold and pretty with just a few bums & undercover cops hanging around the Confederate Monument.

Went down to 5 Points Grill for late lunch/supper. Had an excellent appetizer of calimari fried in that stringy kind of tempura batter with parmesan on top & two different sauces.

Muy sabroso!

I had the blackened fish sammich.
Came with TWO BLACKENED FILETS on the po' boy bun with a steamed fresh asparagus side.

Christopher got the fried seafood platter.

I had two beers.

We traded his fried oysters & fried fish for my blackened fish so we had it made in the shade for under $50.

After it was all over, Christopher said, "The best thing there was the painting."

image courtesy of http://www.comptonverney.org.uk/?page=collections/naples/volaireVesuvius.html

SPEND TIME WITH YOUR CHILDREN!

That's all I got to say right now.

Best,
rr