Writing Life

U2charist @ Cherokee Tomorrow

2009-11-14T04:32:00.000-08:00

Since its 1980 album Boy, the Irish rock band U2 has played a vibrant role in popular culture, their music and image evolving to fit changing times and tastes. But through the years and the changes, two things have remained constant with U2: first, the same four individuals who formed the band so long ago are the same on tour around the world in 2009 and 2010; second, and more importantly for this morning's service at Cherokee, the band's recordings and live performances remain infused with distinct and challenging Christian imagery and spirituality. This longevity of character and belief is evident in the music you'll hear today: "40" is from U2's third album War (1983); "Magnificent" is from the thirteenth album No Line on the Horizon (2009); other songs come from the range of albums in between.

The U2charist combines the music of U2 with the celebration of the Eucharist to create a service that has been described as "meaningful and fun." The first U2charist was held in 2004, and since then variations on the service have been held around the world and across denominations. U2 is aware of these services and allows its music to be used without licensing cost. The band asks in return that the event be a worship service, not a concert, and that a donation be collected to support the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, among which are the end of poverty and hunger, the promotion of universal education, of child and maternal health, gender equality and global partnership.

The organizers of the first U2charist at Cherokee United Methodist Church have chosen to donate today's special offering to a program called Nothing But Nets, an approved project of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. The pennies and dollars donated this morning—100% of them—will go to purchase and distribute protective mosquito netting to help prevent the spread of malaria in Africa, where a child dies of this preventable disease every 30 seconds and a million children and adults die of it every year.

Welcome to the U2charist! Sing along! Dance! Worship!

U2charist @ Cherokee

2009-11-05T03:07:00.000-08:00

Songlist for the U2charist coming up on 15 November at Cherokee United Methodist Church:

"Beautiful Day"
"Pride (In the Name of Love)"
"Yahweh"
"Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own"
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
"Magnificent"
"One"
"40"
"Where the Streets Have No Name"

Return to DC

2009-10-28T09:58:00.001-07:00

I'm in Washington, DC, for the third time in 2009. Two colleagues from ETSU's Honors College and I drove up yesterday for this year's conference of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC). It was a nasty day for driving. Rain, rain, rain, all the way from Tennessee to DC, over 400 miles of rain from the sky and spray from beneath the tires of fellow travelers. We left Johnson City a little after noon—causing me to miss my second 4 O'clock Club meeting in October—and arrived at the Grand Hyatt on the corner of 11th and H Streets at a little after seven o'clock. As a consolation for the 4 O'clock meeting, my colleagues and I went across the street to eat (and drink) at Capitol City Brewing Co., where I had some calamari, a fine turkey burger and a couple of glasses of their "Prohibition Porter."

This morning I woke up a little before six o'clock (as usual), but after staying up for a bit, I went back to bed (not as usual) and dozed until around nine. Then I got up, put on my walking clothes and headed for the Mall—not the shopping mall—where I did a bit of walking and jogging. The place was splashy and smelled of earth after the nearly two inches of rain that fell here yesterday and last night. I passed by the Washington Memorial and the World War II Memorial. As is my wont, I paid an emotional visit to the Lincoln Memorial and then headed back toward my hotel. On the way, I stopped at a little diner called Ollie's Trolley (http://www.olliestrolleydc.com/) for a breakfast of French toast and bacon.

It's now nearly one o'clock, and I'm heading out to find some lunch and walk around the city. The rain has moved out. The sun is shining from a blue sky. And I'm hungry.

17 October 1814: Act of God?

2009-10-19T06:07:00.000-07:00

From the Writer's Almanac:

The London Beer Flood occurred on this day in 1814. At 6:00 on a Monday evening, a torrent of beer came rushing through the streets of the St. Giles district of London.

It started at the Horse Shoe Brewery at Tottenham Court and Oxford Street, where there were huge vats of porter perched on top of the roof. They contained beer, which had been fermenting right there for months. The wooden vats were enormous — some as tall as 22 feet — and were structurally supported by large iron hoops, dozens of them. They sat on the roof of the Meux Brewing Company, each of them containing hundreds of thousands of liters of beer.

The largest vat had started to strain under the weight and pressure of all that porter, and on this day, around 6:00 p.m., one of the iron hoops gave way and all the porter in the 22-foot-tall vat came gushing out. There were about 600,000 liters of beer in there, and when the vat burst and all that beer came exploding out, there was a chain reaction and the surrounding vats on the roof also burst. More than a million liters of beer toppled the brewery's brick wall (it was 25 feet tall) and began flooding the streets of St. Giles.

People came out onto the streets of St. Giles with mugs and buckets and pots and pans to collect the free beer; others leaned over and drank directly from the streams gushing down the streets. But many people were injured by the torrent and sent to the hospital, where inpatients smelled the beer and nearly rioted to get their share.

Nine people died. About half were children who drowned or sustained fatal injuries from the flood, which had also crushed the roofs of buildings near the brewery, adding heavy timber to the gushing rivers of beer. One man died a few days after the flood from alcohol poisoning. Trying to prevent all of it from going to waste, he had drunk a lot of beer in the span of a few days. People brought a lawsuit against the Meux & Company Brewery, but in court the flood was ruled an Act of God, and the brewery was not held legally responsible.

In 1919 there was a molasses flood in Boston, Massachusetts, after a massive tank of molasses crumpled and burst. The molasses flood destroyed houses and trains and killed 21 people.

Mushroom

2009-10-12T04:28:00.001-07:00

2009-09-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

From today's Writer's Almanac:

Today is Constitution Day in the United States, because it was on this day in 1787 that the final draft of the Constitution was signed. There were 55 delegates working on the Constitution, and they had been showing up day after day for almost four months to the State House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Nashville Years II (Related Diary Entries II)

2009-09-10T05:47:00.001-07:00

Here's a diary entry I ran across. It's not related to my experience with Ron or Earl, but I thought it worth posting. I'd forgotten this event, so I was surprised by the reminder and the remembering. The entry is from 6 December 1981:

As seems almost usual for me on Sunday morning, I woke up ill at the world. The Lord knows how hard it is for me to get up before 11 AM. I almost decided not to go to church, like every Sunday, thinking that I got nothing from the small, country service. Then I realized, as always, that they are my people and, even though I may get nothing from the service but seeing them and feeling their friendship, that is enough. Then I also came face to face with the fact that the singing I dread with such passion is for them and not for me, and that, being graciously given the gift from God, it is my duty to sing for them. It should also be my desire to do so.

Well, Allen met me at the door asking if what he heard about me signing with Capitol was true and he was followed closely by Butch asking the same. I quickly gave them my practiced explanation about Townhouse [Records] but they were still pleased.

When time came for me to sing came around, as I was getting my guitar, Raymond spoke up about my struggles with my music and my witness for the church and my hopefully impending record deal. Then totally unexpectedly he suggested a standing ovation for me and I was overwhelmed. If it is not the Lord's will that this all go through all right, He sure is planning to teach me a great lesson in disappointment. Evan at that, though, this morning was a great blessing and I am very thankful for all the people there. . . .

Oh, in church I sang "A Song for Carolina" and "Dear Mother."

Although I've mostly lost track of Butch, Allen and I are friends on Facebook. Raymond is dead now, as are most of the people who were there that December Sunday morning in 1981. In the end, I left that little church behind without much in the way of second thoughts or regrets. But the reminder of this moment fills my plate with a range of emotions—a pinch of nostalgic joy, a big helping of nostalgic heartache, a spoonful of anger at God (along with a double spoonful of confusion) regarding this "great lesson in disappointment." Such thoughts and memories raise questions, and their answers are not forthcoming.

Nashville Years II (Related Diary Entries I)

2009-09-08T05:49:00.001-07:00

Not exactly as I remembered it in my last post but close, allowing 30 years or so for memory decay. According to my diary—"Captain's Log"—for this time period, Ron and I met Earl in November 1981. We returned to Nashville on 15 December to sign the contracts and receive $2,000 as an advance; I got $1,500, and Ron's 25% gave him $500.

From 2 December 1981

This musician's life can, at this point, be very boring. I sit around all day and night reading, listening to music and watching TV. I try to write but I'm so bored there is little inspiration and when the inspiration comes, I am so fidgety waiting for something to happen, inspired thoughts are lost before I can even sit down. This becomes very frustrating because I can get very cranky when I am not writing because it is now as much a part of my life as sleep or Mountain Dew or late night TV.

There are 3 songs I recorded in Nashville last month which, I'm afraid, are going to have to be on the album. I don't want them on the album but it seems I have little control over that. It's not that they aren't good songs, I just like mine better. I feel the real reason for this is at this point I view myself as a songwriter solely. Once the recording artist/performer actually comes into a reality, I may be more comfortable with the idea of having to do other people's songs, but as of now, viewing myself as a songwriter, it hurts my self-image and confidence. Once I hear my own songs fully recorded, my ideas may change but I doubt they will until I actually begin performing and/or one of those songs becomes a hit. I cannot say at this time what the album will consist of, but I do feel that it will be very good.

From 19 January 1982

Delays and more delays! Earl has had problems with collecting money so as a result both mine and Ron's checks have bounced. Then, in trying to right the whole thing, recording was postponed and now things look like it will be February before we start. I'm being patient enough I guess but we've had snows and ice storms so I've been cooped up here at the house for quite a while and now have a definite case of cabin fever; I'm stark raving stir crazy. I keep thinking about the album and what I'm gonna be able to get on it and what it's gonna come out sounding like . . . I'm about to explode! I've almost finished a rocker called "Some Kind of Magic" and I feel I'd like to record it; if need be in the place of "Fallin' For You Again." Also, there is a new slow ballad called "Just Can't Find the Words" and I'd like to put that on the album. So many to choose from now that I cannot allow, if at all possible, anything outside of my own to show up on the record.

Nashville Years II

2009-09-03T09:23:00.001-07:00

In 1959, when I was working on being one year old, Earl Sinks (later a.k.a. Earl "Snake" Richards) took over for a brief stint as lead singer of The Crickets, after that group had split with its more famous lead singer and songwriter Buddy Holly. He wrote and recorded songs for the music industry in 1960s Nashville: "House of Blue Lights" (United Artists Records), "Corrine, Corrina" (United Artists Records), "Margie, Who's Watching the Baby?" (Ace of Hearts Records). He had contributed to the B-movie industry by starring or costarring in three films: That Tennessee Beat (1966), Girl from Tobacco Row (1966), White Lightnin' Road (1967).

http://www.myspace.com/earlrichards

http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/earl_sinks.htm

When Ron Weathers and I walked into Earl's office in Goodlettesville, TN, we saw memorabilia and awards from a varied career that had already spanned more than 20 years. I was young, and Ron was ambitious. Our heads spun. Earl could probably tell. Once he heard something—probably, as with Ron, it was "Daisy"—that he thought he could do something with, we didn't really stand a chance. How many young songwriters walk into their first Nashville meeting and basically walk out with a publishing deal and what looks very like a recording contract? My memory might be bumping some things together and mixing them up, but that's more or less how it happened.

Not only did Earl spin our heads in his office, he took us to a recording studio on Music Row (the name of which I've forgotten but I remember that Waylon Jennings had recorded there), where we did three songs. Well, we didn't actually fully record three songs. Earl had an old project in the archives there. He had the engineer put the reels on, remove or mute the singer's voice, and then I sang to the tracks. There I was, singing in a bona fide Nashville recording studio right out of the gate. I was thrilled and flabbergasted!

After such sudden success, such a heady experience, Ron and I had no hesitation, paused for no negotiation, when offered both a publishing contract and a production deal (one step short of a recording contract). Each was for five years. At some point I had already signed a 10-year management contract with Ron, so obviously I had no problem signing Earl's deals. Ron, who as my manager was supposed to be protecting me, when the contracts were handed to him simply handed on to me and said, "Sign these." (It happened something like that.) The irony is that Ron, in allowing me to sign Earl's contracts, more or less cut himself out of the picture. He still had me for 10 years (and 25% of my earnings), but in all ways that mattered, I was taken right out of his hands. He never really had a say in anything related to me from that time onward. Before two years had passed, Ron and his contract were completely out of the picture, and Earl had me to himself.

Nashville Years I (Related Diary Entries II)

2009-08-20T08:28:00.001-07:00

From 1 December 1981

As usual I have fallen to being slack again. So many things have happened since [16 June 1981], I'll have to finish out this log book I guess.

Jerry and I returned safely from the wild, wild West.

Bobbie Tweed and the kids took off for a week at the beach so I moved in with Mike for a week. We hit many clubs (harmlessly) at first but finally settled for the rest of the week at Delmonico's where we enjoyed the "Groovin'" sounds of Little Royal and the Royal Showmen featuring Tammy Williams. Tammy and I immediately hit it off and spent quite a bit of time together through the week that followed. When the band left town at the end of June, I almost joined them as a guitar player but I figured it might hurt my career more than help.

The first or second week of July, the whole [New Orleans] recording deal fell through so I got all mad and bummed out but I soon got over it, deciding that someday they'd just be one of many to miss the boat for the Michael A. Cody "tour de force."

Jack and Anita were married on July 18. I sang "Longer" and a song I wrote for them called "Seasons."

In August, Royal came back to town, Karen Smith left town with Stan, and Cindy Byrum came back into my life via Ron Weathers. Cindy and I began some rehearsals together but did no playing.

Come September, I entered Fantasy Sound Studios in Hickory (meeting Glen, Tim, and Mark) where we recorded "Just You and Me." I went to Michigan with Joe to pick up Ernie. We had a great 3 or 4 day visit. From sometime in summer I had been reunited with Anita [not the one mentioned above]. She fell in love, I didn't' a sad affair over this month. Cindy and I continued rehearsals. Saw Dallas Holm in concert with Jack and Anita, Butch and Ginger. Became reunited with Hannah Anderson. Began work on "Take Me in Your Arms" at FSS.

During October I played a lot of clubs with Cindy and without and in this time I got to know her a little better. Reunited with Terry Davis and Jim Stapleton [White Water Band] either this month or September. Broke up with Hannah November 5^th. Ron, Patty, and I met with Earl in Nashville and he offered a record deal. Incredible! Things moved quickly at first then slowed to a crawl. Cindy and I go to see a lot of movies. I go to New York and spend a glorious weekend with Jack York, Tina Perrone, Linda Cardaro, Karen Trisciki, and John (?). Because of tension of waiting news on the record deal, I can hardly sit down to write anything; only one song the whole month! I turned 23 and had a great Thanksgiving. Reunited with Tom Duvall after almost 2 years. Kissed Cindy for the first time on Nov. 30.

. . . Still livin', livin' for the Lord

Nashville Years I (Related Diary Entries)

2009-08-18T06:27:00.001-07:00

From 12 May 1981

Ron Weathers is a manager/booking agent from Asheville, N.C. He called me up on April 29 . . . and we met the next day and the next. He seems to believe in me and what I can do. Right now, we're waiting word from a recording studio in New Orleans. If they are interested, they may record me and push to the major companies. If the majors don't want it then we may put out a single on the New Orleans group label. If they are not interested, we'll probably record in Asheville at Wes Sound and push it to record companies ourselves. It's all so up in the air and so am I. I know where I want to be but I can't see what roads will get me there. Oh well, I've got to start somewhere.

I talked to Leesa for a long time last night and the spark seems to still be there. I also talked to Jack in LA for a long time. I need to do morning devotions . . . Not my will but Thine be done

From 15 May 1981

Well, I spent most of the morning with Ron but we didn't come up with anything recording-wise yet. He's got a lot of leads if he can just get in touch with those he knows. Meanwhile, I sit and wait, praying that the Lord's will be done. I don't know whether or not I want to be a big star. I would like the position I would be in to help the world a bit, but it would be a lot of hassle. God may not want it and if He don't, I don't. Still, I feel I have the gift to make it so I've turned it over to Him, to do with me as he pleases . . . all my life is His

From 7 June 1981

Well, let's see . . . Tonight I am at June's [an uncle's] in Port Huron, Michigan. Jerry [my brother] and I drove up here [yesterday]. We've seen most all of our folks here and I've played 3 church services today[—]SS and church for the Salvation Army and evening worship at Ross Bible Church w/ Darwin [a cousin] . . . All went well. Today I talked to Isia [a Canadian friend from the 1979 summer trip to Europe] and tomorrow at 1:00 I'll meet her at the Holiday Inn in Chatham, Ontario. I am really looking forward to it 'cause she's one of the best.

Patty [Ron's wife] called me on [29 May 1981] and told me New Orleans wants to record "If You Come at All," "A Sad Song," "Rhymes" and "Daisy" . . . so far. As Evaline [an aunt] said, "this may be the break we've been praying for." I've turned all career decisions over to my Lord and Savior and hope to do only what He would have me do. All that remains now is to set the recording dates and hopefully Ron will have them by the time I get back to Walnut . . . All that I want to be / Is what You want me, Lord, to be

Nashville Years I

2009-08-11T05:22:00.001-07:00

A little over a year ago, I decided I wanted to tell the story of my Nashville years, 1982-1989. Seven years, it was, although it seemed much longer than that to me. I guess I crammed a lot of living into that space of time. Either that or living on the edge of "making it" just made it seem like a long time. Anyway, I wrote the blog posts "Prelude to Nashville" and "Nashville 1980" before getting sidetracked. A recent trip to Music City, however, has me thinking about that place and those years once again. So, over the next while—I don't know how long—I'll write what I can remember.

My real Nashville experience began when I was 22 years old. The scene: Walnut, North Carolina, sometime in April of 1981. I had been a year back from my 1980 experience in Nashville, which was largely to do with attending Belmont College. I'd done a little more school at the University of North Carolina at Asheville in the fall of 1980, making it through half a semester before dropping out and going to work in a sports store operated by my good friend Mike Tweed. I was singing in churches with Mike, his wife Bobbie, my aunt Ernie and my mom. It was during this time that I wrote several Christian songs, the only one of which that still survives is "Dear Mother." For a period in late 1980 and early 1981, that's the only type of song I wrote. But that spring of '81, I started writing some secular songs again.

My best friend at the time was Karen Smith, who had been a fan of the White Water Band and loved to listen to my music. I made some tapes for her, although I couldn't tell you now what was on them. Karen had a younger sister still in high school, and this younger sister had a classmate and friend named Ronnie Weathers. Ronnie's father Ron Weathers was an entertainment booking agent who also did some entertainer/artist management.

Back to April 1981. I was sitting at home in Walnut watching—I remember—an episode of The Greatest American Hero. The telephone rang, and on the other end of the line was Ron Weathers, who said that he had heard my music on a tape his son had brought home from school. He also said that he'd like to meet with me. I was, of course, flabbergasted and quickly said I'd be glad to meet with him and play him some songs.

A few days later we met at his office near Asheville: Surefire Productions. I sat in the plush red velvet chair across from his desk and played a few of my tunes for him. He seemed pleased with them but not overly impressed. As a final song, I played him a new one called "Daisy." That floored him. Suddenly he was excited about my music and me, and talk about taking me to Nashville was on the table. Also on the table was talk about a management contract. I didn't really know what that entailed, but I had an idea—I'd heard about "managers."

If I'm not mistaken, Ron and I were off to Nashville within a couple of months of our first meeting. We were to meet some fellow there that Ron knew from New Orleans (or maybe Atlanta)—a record producer named Sonny Limbo, who had just helped put together a big hit record, "Key Largo" by Bertie Higgins. Of course, just being on the fringes of a success story like that was enough to make my young head swim with "What ifs." When we arrived in Nashville, lo and behold, Sonny Limbo was nowhere to be found. He'd gotten hung up in New Orleans (or Atlanta) and wouldn't be able to meet us. (Remember the days when we had no email and no cell phones?) At some point, Ron reached Limbo by telephone and was advised to go see Earl Richards. "Leave no stone unturned" was to be the theme of our Nashville visit, but we didn't get any further than the meeting with Earl.

I didn't know it then, didn't know it until it was much too late to recover my career, but the stone Earl was under ought to have been left unturned.

Definition

2009-08-09T20:08:00.001-07:00

Starry-eyed dreamer: [1] a person who believes that some glorious American future of prosperity and peace awaits us as a nation; [2] a person who believes that some glorious American past can be reclaimed or, similarly, a person who believes that such a past actually once existed.

Office Decor

2009-07-27T07:23:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of things that I have in my office in Honors House.

I don't know where I got either of these pieces. The mirror is one of those two-sided jobs, one side of which is regular while the other is triple magnification. The little Lego man is from some set for building scenes from the ancient world, although he could be a character from a Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark Lego set. Come to think of it, that's probably more likely. Anyway, it's funny that when the little man is set on the mirror these two pieces are transformed into a single recognizable scene. You know what it is.

A few years ago, my mom began falling at home a lot. An obvious and serious problem. The house that she lives in is the house that she grew up in. It began as a two-room cabin and grew as my grandparents' family grew—and grew and grew. He and his first wife had two children in this house. When she died after the second child was born, he eventually married my grandmother and with her had nine more. I don't know how many of them lived in the house at the same time. Anyway, all this building on led to floors that were uneven. When we moved into the house in 1968, after my grandfather died, my dad tore up the floors and leveled them, which left lots of little unavoidable step-ups and step-downs between rooms. My brother and I realized that we needed to restrict Mom's circuit through the house to those areas that had the fewest and the smallest steps. This required moving her to a different bedroom and adding on a bathroom. This addition required taking part of the near-wrap-around porch, and one window looking from the living room onto the porch was a necessary casualty. For my 50^th birthday, my aunt Ernie (Ernestine) blew up one of my favorite pictures of the old homeplace and framed it with one of the porch windows that was removed. My wife found the tripod stand at a thrift store somewhere here in Johnson City.

Turbulent Cleric

2009-07-22T18:32:00.000-07:00

Sometime back of this, I was doing some Internet research for a Sunday School class I was teaching, and I ran across the blog of Paul Martin, a Methodist minister in the UK. I've returned to his blog now and then and always found it interesting. The latest post was just too good to keep to myself, so check it out.

http://turbulentcleric.blogspot.com/2009/07/just-other-day-i-was-visiting-my-local.html

A Lovely Picture

2009-07-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

This is the cover of the last hardcopy diary I tried to keep. Leesa gave it to me on 26 October 1995, and I filled it up over the next 9 years. Although it records a large portion of my life, my favorite thing about it is the picture.

1979 & 1988

2009-07-17T05:46:00.001-07:00

Another travel entry from 30 years ago today. We'd left the Greek island and sailed on an overnight ship to the boot heel of Italy. From there we traveled to Sorrento, which is near Naples. Our AESU groups were named by date—either of departure from the States or arrival in London. My group was 616, so, obviously the 617 group was a day behind us. We met them sometimes, here and there, but not as often as I might have expected. The Pasquale referenced in the entry was our Italian bus driver through the first half of the trip. He got a couple of speeding tickets in our Mercedes us and, eventually, burned up the motor. We saw him again—in Rome, I think—but he was eventually taken off our trip and possibly fired.

17 July (Tuesday): Day 31

Vico Equense, Italy

Left this morning for Capri, a very beautiful island. We rode on a small boat with another group: ISE [?]. Met a girl named Kate who travels with them—nice girl. We sailed straight to the cave entrance of the Blue Grotto. It's so eerie because light comes up from the extended cave opening which is under water and the whole place is blue. Then we went to beach for about 3 hrs., where I bought some wooden sandals. We had lunch on the top of the mountain at a beautiful outdoor restaurant under palm trees and grape vines. Later back for shopping then on boat back to Sorrento. Back but still no Pasquale. 617 picked us up. Back to hotel. Played Edith's flute and met girls from 617 until supper. Went shopping and partying until bed. Went to bed while everyone partied. Jack came in 1 hr later and bummed out again by blond girl from 617 (Janet). Saw young Italian getting his first haircut.

The following is from my regular diary. In the summer of 1988, when I was working as a songwriter for Gary Morris's publishing company, I decided to join Gary's western tour as a truck driver. Mostly I traveled alone, which was just what I was after in such an adventure. Sorry, but the second paragraph is severely edited.

Captain's Log . . . Sunday, July 17, 1988

It is morning here at the Parkway Motel in Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada. I am here en route to Vancouver, British Columbia. Pincher Creek lies right on the plains at the foot of a set of the Canadian Rockies and directly north of the Butte section of Montana. I pulled in here last night around 10:30 pm with the afterglow of sunset still in the western skies. My room here, #121, is actually a little apartment. The main door leads into a small kitchen and through a double-sized doorway is the living room with couch, TV, and desk. There is a closet in here and a back door leading outside. In one corner is the doorway to the bathroom and in the other, to the bedroom. There is some smell in here which reminds me of Mama Reeves though it must be an unpleasant memory as I refuse to think about it. Maybe it is just the smell of being too old in general or more specifically it may remind me of the morning she found out she had to leave her house and go to live with Ernie. She had been crying and sweating and breathing hard, snuffy breaths. It was a painful morning for all of us.

On the upside, I went to sleep last night and woke up this morning thinking about. . . . I thought of two women, not at one time, mind you, and was surprised at which two they were. It was K**** S**** and S**** G****. No A*****. No J**. No H*****. No L****. K**** and S****. The two who at one time would have held the least attraction for me are the ones I woke up thinking about.

Well, I best get a shower and hit the road. I still have a good distance to travel and it may be slow through the mountains.

1978 & 1979

2009-07-14T05:23:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of entries from the diary I kept—sporadically—for years. The first is from 1978 and sums up the time between 7 June and 14 July. I was 19. The second is my entry from 30 years ago today, when I was 20 and spending the summer in Europe with AESU tours.

Captain's Log: Stardates 060.778 – 071.478

Ain't life grand? Most of the time I think so, though sometimes the devil throws some pretty mean stuff at you. Thanks to my Lord I can still get by.

There are strong possibilities of the Youth Group recording an album in January; I have sung at Terry D's and Jim's weddings; I finished one summer session and started another.

I just can't find a girl. As far as that category goes, life's pretty dry. I love Leesa and I think she loves me but between her work and Lane, and my school and music, we simply never have time for each other, ya know? I wrote her a book about how I feel and she really liked it.

I finally met that girl at the Family Record and Tape Center. Her name is Pam Club and she is really nice.

I was a hero the other night when I stopped a rolling car on a hill near the Plaza Theatre. Three cheers for me. . . . Live Long and Prosper

14 July (Saturday): Day 28

Athens, Greece – Island of Poros, Greece

JOURNAL: This morning we departed Athens early for the Greek island, Poros. The ship was really crowded but I found a really nice place on the edge behind the life boats. We arrived at the dock and were assigned to our rooms. We are staying in more or less private homes (almost a hostel) and I'm with Joe, Jack, Mike, Eddie: #8. After an hour for lunch we sailed in our private 65-foot boat to an inlet where we spent 1½ hrs. swimming. The water here is beautiful blue and clear as the springs at home. When depths get 30 feet or below, you can see almost every stone on the bottom, and the Greek worker on board caught 2 octopi (strange). Nearly everyone got at least a small sunburn. Mine is not too bad because I didn't swim much. The water was about 20 feet deep so Cary gave me lessons in treading water. I slept on the trip back to harbor. . . . We had a beautiful evening. Only problem not enough food for party on boat and everyone bitching. Later though thousands of stars out. Took on nude Londoners, and came back to sit under trees with Joe, Tina, Vallory, Cary.

NOTES: The heat here is incredible. The air is dry, but temps this afternoon have been 100+ and now at 7:00, the sun is still well up and at least 95. (We learned that yesterday when we were playing basketball in Athens the temp was 111!)

Water and mountainous islands are very beautiful

Another WWB Reunion

2009-07-12T14:26:00.001-07:00

Yesterday the White Water Band gathered again in Spruce Pine for our third meeting in a little over a year. We spent the afternoon making music, laughing, sharing some pizza and hot wings. Thinking that we would like to do a gig together again, we had picked a group of five songs to work on—"Thunder & Lightning," "Jamboree," "The Jaws of Modern Romance," "She's a Wild One" and "Best I've Ever Seen." We started around 2:00 and worked pretty hard for the next four hours, and by the time we had to stop, the songs sounded darn good. I was so pleased that I celebrated by pouring water all over myself (like a Gatorade shower at the end of a football game).

We're thinking that a gig or two in the fall might be possible. Before then, we'll have at least a couple more of these gatherings. The plan is to have, by the time we're done, a set list that includes the songs above plus "Genesis Road," "Homecoming," "Fresh Horses," "Dizzy from the Distance," "None but the Lonely Heart" and "Landscapes."

Pictured above (l-r): me, Jobie (light & sound); Terry (guitar & vocals); Kirk (drums & vocals); Ben (sound); Jim (guitar); Harlon (bass & vocals).

MJ (The Musical One)

2009-06-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

The first LP I ever bought, probably at the age of 11 or 12, was ABC by the Jackson 5. Released in May 1970, the album featured two #1 hits: "ABC" and "The Love You Save." I was in the 6th grade, and I remember having this running playful argument with the girls in my class that Michael Jackson was better than Donny Osmond. The course of their careers--to some extent--seems to have proven me right. Even though I grew out of that ABC phase pretty quickly (Thriller and "We Are the World" were the only other related items that I bought), I maintained a nostalgic connection with Michael Jackson: we're both named Michael, we were born just three months apart in 1958 and so on.

His death is a sad affair in several ways and on several different levels.

I woke up this morning feeling a sense of unease. Not that I was thinking about Jackson's death, really, but a certain grayness to the dawn seemed to hold back the light more than usual.

For Mark and Tom and Sam and Skyler

2009-06-23T03:47:00.001-07:00

From the Writer's Almanac for 22 June 2009

Baseball (by John Updike)

It looks easy from a distance,
easy and lazy, even,
until you stand up to the plate
and see the fastball sailing inside,
an inch from your chin,
or circle in the outfield
straining to get a bead
on a small black dot
a city block or more high,
a dark star that could fall
on your head like a leaden meteor.

The grass, the dirt, the deadly hops
between your feet and overeager glove:
football can be learned,
and basketball finessed, but
there is no hiding from baseball
the fact that some are chosen
and some are not—those whose mitts
feel too left-handed,
who are scared at third base
of the pulled line drive,
and at first base are scared
of the shortstop's wild throw
that stretches you out like a gutted deer.

There is nowhere to hide when the ball's
spotlight swivels your way,
and the chatter around you falls still,
and the mothers on the sidelines,
your own among them, hold their breaths,
and you whiff on a terrible pitch
or in the infield achieve
something with the ball so
ridiculous you blush for years.
It's easy to do. Baseball was
invented in America, where beneath
the good cheer and sly jazz the chance
of failure is everybody's right,
beginning with baseball.

Zuma

2009-06-19T11:59:00.001-07:00

I'm writing from Zuma, a coffeehouse in downtown Marshall, NC. Zuma is a cool place that occupies the space of the old Home Electric, which was here when I was growing up in this area. Mom and Dad bought their appliances from Home Electric--washer, dryer, refrigerator and so on. My uncle Harold traded instruments--mandolins and fiddles with a guy who worked here for years. Leonard Baker was the owner of Home Electric, and my brother Jerry rented a garage apartment from his wife Lib and him for many years--late '80s, I think, until a couple of years ago--for $150 a month. Probably not many deals like that around any more.

I traveled to Nashville recently and spent a couple of days with my good friends Mark and jb there (along with Mark's wife Becky and son Tom). We had a fine time eating, remembering the old days, watching baseball, driving around. I was a little sorry to have to leave.

While I was there, a wild hair sent me to the telephone book on the off chance that I might learn the whereabouts of a man I knew as Earl Richards but whose real name was Earl Sinks. We worked together for a lot of years, and it wasn't until after we'd been finished with each other for several more years that I found out he was crooked, using me and my music for his own personal gain. I guess I should've brought along a dozen eggs when I found his house, but I didn't.

Homecoming

2009-06-12T23:45:00.000-07:00

A little video I made some years ago for "Homecoming."

Churches

2009-06-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

I'm always interested in little churches that I see on the side of the road, and I think I'll begin a photo archive and post some of them here from time to time. Lots of little roadside churches look familiar, with steeples and such. Others are different.

Take this one, for example. The last time I remember noticing this building on Old Jonesborough Highway (or West Walnut Street), it was some kind of little consignment shop. Obviously in its past, it's been a convenience store and gas station. Notice the Pepsi sign that has survived from whenever it was a store.

So, I'm interested in these buildings. I'm interested in their names. This one is "Open Arms Full Gospel Church." I wonder how they pick their names and what they mean to the person or persons who establish the church. I'm interested in who attends on Sunday mornings (if they meet on Sunday morning). I wonder if the congregation came ready-made, trailing some preacher or other, and I wonder if anybody would drive by this place on, say, a Thursday afternoon and decide to visit it on the following Sunday.

From time to time, as I run across these, I'll post a picture and add whatever information I have about the place and whatever musings cross my mind.

This Time of Year

2009-05-28T15:51:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm sitting here dressed for an evening of pushing the lawn mower around the yard and listening to music. But as often happens this time of year, we just had a sudden downpour. The rain came hard and fast and just enough to make it too wet to mow. Then it stopped as suddenly as it started. Now the sun is shining on the wall beside my computer, and I guess I have to get up and change out of my mowing clothes.

Maybe tomorrow.