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It practically gallops!

Heart Murmurs

Naturally they asked me to deliver a line about end-of-life stories. Janene Satterfield and I recorded a promo for SMOMOtv last week. In it, we asked viewers to submit their Valentine’s Day stories. They might be about Smoky Mountain Sweethearts or Not-So Romantic Confessions of the Jaded. The final category is for tear-jerking stories about the elderly or those who have passed away. Call toll-free 855-SMOMOTV ext 105 to tell your story.

February 6, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

Sara Leeway

Ever since getting my Kindle, I have made it a habit to check the list of 100 “bestselling” free e-books on Amazon.com. They have a list of the top 100 free mp3 songs too.

Today I downloaded a free book called “CAKES – 50 Cake Recipes to Tantalize Your Taste Buds” by M. Smith and R. King and then mentioned it on Twitter. That prompted Jennifer Prairie to ask, “Do YOU bake?”

I am much more likely to buy a cake than to bake one, although I have helped my wife bake a few things. Before downloading the cookbook, I glanced at the table of contents and saw two recipes with the word banana in the title. Neither seemed close to the Sara Lee banana cake I loved as a kid. Every so often, the memory pops into my head and I wish I had some in the freezer.

If the free e-book didn’t have a replica of the Sara Lee recipe, maybe the Internet would. I found three candidates that might be worth a try: Banana Cake VI on AllRecipes.com; Iced Banana Cake on PetitChef.com and Southern Living Banana Cake on Food.com.

January 29, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments 

Musical Truth

The music chosen as the Mass setting in the Diocese of Knoxville is okay but it’s not my favorite. As I wrote at the start of Advent, I was looking forward to hearing different settings when I traveled.

I was in St. Louis a week ago, at a church that uses the Mass of St. Ann by composer Ed Bolduc. It has a much more joyful sound and is ideal for youth choirs. In the old days, we might have heard that sound at a “folk mass.” You can hear a demo version of it by clicking on the play button to the left.

In conversations with Fr. Gary Braun in St. Louis and Fr. Michael Woods in Knoxville, both priests mentioned the misguided video entitled “Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus.” In it, Jefferson Bethke begins with the erroneous claim that Jesus came to eliminate organized religion. Jesus actually said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” He said to Peter, “upon this rock I will build my church.” He instructed the disciples to carry on without him, forgiving sins (the sacrament of penance) and commemorating the Last Supper (the sacrament of the Eucharist).

This morning, Fr. Michael Woods suggested I read a column by fellow parishioner Bob Hunt in yesterday’s Knoxville News Sentinel. A week earlier, I had told Fr. Gary that Catholic blogger Frank Weathers (another All Saints parishioner) said organized religion is like the military. It may not be perfect, but you need it to fight evil.

A blog called “Bad Catholic” posted a great repudiation of Bethke’s video. Perhaps even better, they shared a link to the following response video by a priest in Evansville, Indiana, named Fr. Claude (Dusty) Burns aka Fr. Pontifex.

January 22, 2012 | Filed Under Catholic | Leave a Comment 

Relapsing McPheever

They say that ” Smash” is like “Glee” for grown-ups. It’s actually better than that. My interest was piqued by the frequent promos, which inexplicably say “introducing Katharine McPhee.” She was on “American Idol” six years ago.

The series debuts the day after the Super Bowl but NBC has made the pilot episode available three weeks early via several methods including Xfinity On Demand and Amazon Instant Video.

“Smash” tells the story of a Broadway musical being created. The show-within-a-show is a musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe. It only took a few minutes of the pilot to get me hooked. McPhee’s character is competing with another girl for the role of Marilyn. I especially loved the baseball number, in which Marilyn sings and dances with Joe DiMaggio’s teammates.

Jack Davenport plays the director of the musical. I always enjoyed watching him on the British version of “Coupling.” There are a couple of other recognizable faces in the cast including Debra Messing as one of the writers and Anjelica Huston as the producer.

When Katharine McPhee was on “American Idol,” my family and I were interested to know that she had attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks. Several of my daughter’s elementary school classmates went to Notre Dame and she considered going there herself before choosing a different school.

January 18, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

Keep on Turning

Finding other Frank Murphys online amuses me. As proprietor of frankmurphy.com, I feel a certain responsibility to steer wayward Internet traffic back to the right Franks. This happens mostly with a realtor in California whose email address is very close to mine.

My latest discovery has an Irish accent and a YouTube channel full of cover songs. It wouldn’t surprise me if “Frankie Murf” turned out to be the same guy as “Master Frank Murphy.” What do you think? Here’s his version of “Proud Mary,” bar chord blips and all:

January 14, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

Storm Team

The torrential rain in East Tennessee yesterday prompted me to watch “Stormy Weather,” one of the movies I bought with the Amazon.com gift certificate I received for Christmas. “Stormy Weather” has some laughs, great singing and phenomenal dancing.

It was a famous dance scene that prompted me to put the film on my wish list in the first place. Near the end of the movie, the Nicholas Brothers do amazing splits on the floor and on stairs. Somehow they glide back to their feet after each split.

About a year and a half ago, I was chatting with a friend outside church after Mass. Her young daughter approached and wanted to show off a few tap dancing steps. I told the family about the Nicholas Brothers and suggested they look for the scene on YouTube. The girl grabbed her smart phone and within minutes was watching the scene I had described.

January 12, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

Thank You, Thing

The Google Doodle inspired me to look online for episodes of one of my favorite old TV shows. Today would have been the 100th birthday of cartoonist Charles Addams.

Reruns of the “The Addams Family” were an afternoon TV staple in my youth. My parents taught me that the same characters were found in copies of The New Yorker that my father brought home every week. I would eagerly flip through each issue looking for a new Addams cartoon. Before long, I discovered books of Addams cartoons at the Crestwood Library. I borrowed titles like “Favorite Haunts” and “The Groaning Board” and eventually bought a few Addams anthologies from the Mystery Guild. Of the cartoons, I generally preferred the ones set in the real world instead of those at the mansion of Gomez, Morticia et al.

As I watched the first two episodes of season one, I skimmed through an episode guide at a comprehensive fan site. From there, I decided to watch a fun Halloween episode with guest star Don Rickles as a crook and a great two-part flashback episode with guest star Margaret Hamilton as Morticia’s mother.

January 7, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

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