,

It practically gallops!

Trending Topic

Except for a rain delay, my Father’s Day played out as I had hoped. I went for a swim and enjoyed smoked chicken and grilled peaches for dinner, which I anticipated in a guest post about Father’s Day for Food City’s Power Shopper Blog. Although I have a business relationship with Food City, the blog post was done as a favor for The Tombras Group.

Earlier in the day, my daughter called to sing the Father’s Day song that I had learned from an old Groucho Marx album and passed along to to my kids. My wife and son joined in the serenade. My son started plunking out the tune on a keyboard, trying to guess what note I meant to sing.

Father's Day cake from Food City My wife wanted to buy me a cake for my upcoming birthday but I told her I would rather defrost a slice of the banana walnut cranberry cake from Touch of Love Catering that has been in our freezer since February. My wife doesn’t like banana-flavored things, which may be why she bought a chocolate Father’s Day cake for us to share. At first glance, I thought the decoration on top said “Hi Dad!” but it actually says “#1 Dad!”

June 20, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Besting Out All Over

The East Tennessee’s Best poll in the New Sentinel starts with a fill-in-the-blank test. The multiple-choice quiz comes later. To make it through both rounds and be named one of the final three is fantastic. I am immensely complimented to have been chosen as a top-three blogger for four consecutive years. Once again, I am among excellent company. This year, the other runner-up was Cynthia Moxley and the top vote-getter was Katie Allison Granju, who wrote heart-breaking posts about the death of her son Henry.

This is the second year that the readers voted on Best Local Tweeter. The winners were Wes Rucker, Cynthia Moxley and Tearsa Smith. As a fan of local news, one of the first categories I look at is Best TV Anchor. Congratulations to winner Robin Wilhoit and runners-up Russell Biven and Abby Ham. And last but not least, my co-hosts and I were once again honored in the radio category. This year’s winners were Marshall & Marisa. I humbly and sincerely thank all those who voted.

October 15, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Cinco de Blogo

At the risk of dislocating my own shoulder from patting myself on the back, I would like to take a moment to wish my blog a happy 5th birthday. I started this little venture on August 1, 2005 and have found it to be tremendously rewarding.

Yesterday I looked through the archives of my last 12 months to select five favorite posts. They may not be the five funniest or the five most controversial but they mean a lot to me. They are diary entries that will serve to remind me of five significant moments in my life. It was tough to choose. I had to leave off several great field trips, some favorite radio anecdotes and some exciting opportunities.

If you have a different favorite blog post of mine, I would love to hear about it in the comments section. I invite you to click on these five links and, in the circa 1989 words of Jon Lovitz, “get to know me!”

August 1, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments 

Harold and Fumar

There’s a guy in North Carolina who might be my brother from another mother, or at least my cousin from another aunt and uncle. I found Chris Ayers’ blog because of a clever comment he made about “1776″ on Twitter. Obviously, I heartily concur with his opinion. (For the uninitiated, “1776″ is the best musical ever made about the Declaration of Independence.) Chris writes about his love of improv and performs in Raleigh with a group called ComedyWorx.

This time of year makes me think about my own love of improv. Friday was the eighth anniversary of my first performance with Einstein Simplified. Back in those days we performed through the nasty cigarette smoke at Manhattan’s, which closed on Saturday. Within a year, our group moved to the better performance space at Patrick Sullivan’s Steakhouse and Saloon, which is owned by the same folks as Manhattan’s. Thankfully, our shows became smoke-free in 2007 when the state banned smoking in restaurants. I never returned to Manhattan’s, which continued to allow smoking because they restricted admission to those 21 and up. In hindsight, I wonder why I tolerated the smoke pollution for as long as I did. I have no intention of booking any future gigs where smoking is permitted.

June 30, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments 

Unnecessary Deaths

Facebook comment from Michelle Mabe Rivera Social media is changing everything about the way we live. A local tragedy caused that message to hit home once again. Christene Rivera was murdered on Saturday. She was a listener who had “friended” me on Facebook in January. She used the name Michelle Mabe Rivera online and would sometimes comment on my posts and invite me to her events at her business. I am almost positive that we met at the March for Babies this past April. Not sure what else to do, I posted a note asking other listeners to pray for the repose of her soul.

In radio’s past, most of our listeners remained anonymous to us. The only names we would know were the active contest players who seemed to win every 45 days. Because of Facebook and Twitter, it is easier than ever for us to get to know our audience. Michelle’s murder reminded me of another death that happened before the prevalence of Facebook and Twitter. Exactly four years earlier, Christina Eubanks’ body was found in a shallow creek. I recognized her face on the news as a frequent attendee at Einstein Simplified shows.

Two other tragic events are being documented online. Katie Allison Granju’s son Henry died last week. She has written about the drug addiction and beating that led to Henry’s brain injury and death. I met Katie once at a “blogfest” organized by Rich Hailey, my friend and “blogfather.” Just before Henry died, Rich’s son Luke was badly injured in an automobile accident. He has written several powerful pieces about the overlap between the boys’ hospitalizations and about his feelings as a parent.

June 7, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 6 Comments 

Inside Edition

2010 Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk - inflatables in KCHS gym 2010 Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk - Frank Murphy meets Mr. Owl A torrential downpour on Sunday afternoon, right before the Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk started, meant they had to move most of the festivities indoors for the second year in a row. I tried to get as many people as possible to attend by treating my honorary chairmanship as if I were running for office. I “campaigned” at three churches and a school. I wish I had time to go to more churches and more schools. The walk is a fundraiser for Columbus Home.

2010 Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk - Krispy Kreme dipping station 2010 Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk - Rita's Ice The large crowd packed into Knoxville Catholic High School to enjoy treats from Domino’s, Krispy Kreme, Rita’s Ice and Chili’s. They also had fresh fruit, cookies and cotton candy contributed by volunteers. Live music was provided by Jaimie Cameron of Slow Blind Hill.

2010 Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk - Fr. Ragan Schriver speaks to crowd 2010 Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk - view along Fox Lonas Road A break in the weather allowed us to take the walk as planned. Very few could walk as fast as Fr. Ragan Schriver, who led the procession along with Fr. Chris Michelson. Sportscaster Rick Russo did the walk to help rehabilitate his knee. He injured it in a media softball game last year. I was excited to meet Catholic blogger Frank Weathers. I promised to read certain posts about his personal journey to the Church. Either of them would make a great honorary chairperson in the future. It was a great experience for me. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

May 17, 2010 | Filed Under Catholic | 4 Comments 

Oh Happy Day

While skimming through the Metro Pulse Best of Knoxville 2010 results, I was stunned that my blog made it into the top four along with winner The Sunsphere Is Not A Wigshop and runners-up Blue Streak and Frugalissa Finds. I was also pleasantly surprised that the Marc & Kim and Frank show was recognized in the Best Radio Personality category. Huge thanks to all who voted.

Of all my interests, I always thought that Einstein Simplified had the best chance of being honored in the Metro Pulse. No such luck in any of their Arts & Entertainment categories. We were fortunate to score a win in this year’s WTNZ Hot List, however.

Taz Cable and Frank Murphy on Bowl of Oh! A new show on Knox ivi celebrated the Best of Knoxville list on Thursday night. Taz Cable, host of “Bowl of Oh!” invited me to appear on his show and help him interview several of the award winners.

In addition to representatives from several local businesses, we got to speak with two of my favorite women from the local music scene. Paige Travis of AC Entertainment came on to talk about Best Local Idea winner, Sundown in the City. I remember when she was an up-and-coming writer for Metro Pulse and also working at McKay Used Books to make ends meet. I have interviewed Chyna Brackeen about her previous jobs at Knoxville Opera and AC Entertainment. I learned tonight that she is now managing The Black Lillies with her own company, Attack Monkey Productions.

May 14, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Next Page »