Facebook
Lights Rock, More Talk
The hotline rang as I was getting ready to leave the Star 102.1 studio on Tuesday afternoon. “Hi this is Branden from Neon Trees,” said the voice on the other end of the line. Due to a scheduling mishap, I wasn’t expecting his call and he wasn’t expecting to talk with me. Since I was the only deejay around, I conducted an off-the-cuff interview and had a great time.
Branden Campbell was calling from Myrtle Beach. He mentioned a tourist attraction next door to the House of Blues, where they would perform that night. I was happy to hear that he liked Alligator Adventure as much as my son and I did when we visited.
The point of the phone call was to promote Saturday’s Neon Trees concert at the Bijou Theatre. Our conversation wandered from Rocky Top and the Louvin Brothers to the International Biscuit Festival, non-commercial radio, Gay Street, and a cool anecdote about the neon sign that gave the band its name.
The radio station will only use bits and pieces of the interview on-air. Here’s the entire 13-minute conversation for your podcasting enjoyment:
Brother’s Day
56 is too young to die. My wife’s brother passed away last night. He was only 56.
Bill had been fighting cancer for a few years and it seemed he was winning. Things got worse within the past nine months. On Friday, they told us he only had a few weeks left. He died four days later.
My brother-in-law loved a good argument. He would bluster about sports, politics, religion or just about any topic you could mention. He was especially passionate about food and would often compare local fare to meals he had in Japan or Ireland or Germany or Peru.
When we moved from California to Tennessee, Bill became the relative who lived closest. We visited his home in Woodstock, Georgia, several times. When a job change took him back to the Washington suburbs where he grew up, he would stay overnight with us on his frequent road trips between Georgia and Virginia. The routine almost always involved dinner at a nice restaurant on Saturday and Mass at All Saints on Sunday.
Bill was my daughter’s godfather. In his last months, she drove him to the hospital several times when he needed a transfusion, often late at night. My wife spent her Easter vacation visiting her brother and their mother. I last saw him two weeks ago when we made a quick trip to Northern Virginia. He was doing especially well that day.
When someone is dying, it’s hard to know what to say. Even my wife hesitated before we placed a phone call to her brother this past weekend. She and I realized that the action of making the call was far more important than worrying about what we would say. The words came naturally as my wife told her brother she loved him and said her good-byes.
Funerals are similar in some ways. I know too many people who are afraid to attend funerals because they don’t know what to say. I think it would be better to show up and say nothing than to stay home. In the long run, the surviving family members remember that you were there, not what you said.
My brother-in-law had been making plans for a family reunion, perhaps near St. Louis, where his parents and siblings lived before moving to Virginia. Now the family will gather in Virginia for his funeral, confident in the knowledge that Bill’s suffering has ended and that the good Lord will welcome him with open arms.
Credit Trek
“Trekkies” was on Showtime the other night. A viewer named R. Brian Cook took a picture of his TV when my name scrolled past in the credits. Via Twitter he asked, “Is there a story here?”
Naturally “Trekkies” was only an idea on filmmaker Roger Nygard’s drawing board when he contacted me at KLOS. He and I had a few conversations about the movie’s premise. When the time was right to pitch it to Mark & Brian, I asked them to consider appearing in the film to discuss their love of “Star Trek.” They had appeared as costumed aliens in an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Although many of the film’s interviewees are unwittingly funny, Mark & Brian provided some deliberate comic relief by playing the Star Trek theme (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) on their brass instruments.
Peabody Duck
The obituaries for Donald “Duck” Dunn highlight the fact that he was revered in the music business. When I first saw “The Blues Brothers,” I didn’t realize that Dunn, Steve Cropper and the other band members were famous musicians. After I started working in radio, I figured out that the line “play it, Steve” in “Soul Man” referred to Cropper, who played on the original record as well as the Blues Brothers’ cover. Cropper broke the news on Facebook that his lifelong friend Dunn died in Japan yesterday. Dunn and Cropper were legends of the Memphis soul scene. The two were touring together to the end.
I’ve loved “The Blues Brothers” ever since the first time I saw it. I enjoyed Jake and Elwood’s performances on “Saturday Night Live” too but the movie’s guest stars amazed me, especially Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles. At the time, my dad had a 1974 Dodge Monaco Brougham, which was the same type of car as the Bluesmobile. While driving around Northern Virginia, my friends and I would listen to the soundtrack. It has a fantastic version of “The Peter Gunn Theme,” which is still one of my all-time favorite songs.
My first trip to Memphis (and to Tennessee) was in 1987. WAVA’s chief engineer and I had arranged for Don & Mike to broadcast live from Graceland on the tenth anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death. We stayed the weekend and did some sightseeing. One night we went to Beale Street and the Peabody Hotel. As we sat in the hotel bar listening to songs Elvis made famous, I realized that it was none other than Donald “Duck” Dunn performing on stage. You can see Dunn in the white shirt at center stage in this clip from “The Blues Brothers.”
Jesus, Take the Wheel
The Truckers Chapel looks temporary but the chaplains told me it has actually been there for several years. I never noticed it until this past week. It sits in the parking lot of the Petro Truck Stop at the Watt Road exit on I-40.
The message on the front of the trailer reads: “Truckstop Ministries, Inc. A transdenominational ministry reaching the truckers of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. John 14:27”
I asked Chaplain Brian Yearicks what the passage said. He grabbed a Bible from inside the chapel and flipped it open. He read aloud, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” The verse is the same on used during the sign of peace during a Catholic Mass. Although lovely, I expected the quote to be about traveling or carrying a burden.
Long Legs of the Law
FBI Public Affairs Specialist Stacie Bohanan anticipated that over 350 runners would participate in the Law Enforcement Memorial Run this year. She was thrilled that over 530 runners took to the streets of Knoxville this morning. Members of the FBI Knoxville Citizens Academy Alumni Association served snacks and distributed information about the FBI Child ID App. Stacie asked me to announce the winners in the various categories.
Prior to the race, Stacie was interviewed by Kirsten Horne of WBIR. The live shot from Volunteer Landing was transmitted by a LiveU portable uplink. I don’t need one and I certainly can’t afford one but I want one.
Touch of War
Chef Rachel Reagan of Touch of Love Catering has some good news. She is going to be on season 7 of “Cupcake Wars.” The Food Network series is one of my guilty pleasures. My wife and I watch the show every week and sometimes I take to Twitter to complain about the gross ingredients they make the contestants use in round one. I’ve twice visited a bakery in St. Louis because of its appearance on the show.
I first met Rachel at a Junior League event. We’ve crossed paths several times since at events such as the Women Today Expo, the Tennessee Food & Wine Festival and the Signature Chefs Auction. I “liked” Rachel’s Facebook page in order to keep up with any developments she’s permitted to reveal about the show.
My wife bought one of Rachel’s cakes for me at a Star 102.1 Bake Sale last year. I ate some and froze the rest, which I devoured over the course of the next six months. If the photo of holiday cupcakes on her site is any indication, Rachel should do well in the competition.
-
Site Search
-
A Word from Our Sponsors
-
With Humble Appreciation:
-
Connections:
-
Welcome Visitors
-
Olden Days Archives
2005
- August 2005
- September 2005
- October 2005
- November 2005
- December 2005
- January 2006
- February 2006
- March 2006
- April 2006
- May 2006
- June 2006
- July 2006
- August 2006
- September 2006
- October 2006
- November 2006
- December 2006
- January 2007
- February 2007
- March 2007
- April 2007
- May 2007
- June 2007
- July 2007
- August 2007
- September 2007
- October 2007
- November 2007
- December 2007
- January 2008
- February 2008
- March 2008
- April 2008
- May 2008
- June 2008
- July 2008
- August 2008
- September 2008
- October 2008
- November 2008
- December 2008
- January 2009
- February 2009
- March 2009
- April 2009
- May 2009
- June 2009
- July 2009
- August 2009
- September 2009
- October 2009
- November 2009
- December 2009
- January 2010
- February 2010
- March 2010
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010