Four Very Different Musicians

Lionel Richie, Ozzie Osbourne, Elton John, and John Elefante are musicians that have had their fair share of success. They also produce music that is quite different. However, they all have one thing in common they have all adopted children. You can read more about this in my latest article here. Just in time for Father's Day.

Let me post some videos..

Lionel Richie.."All Night Long"

Elton John "Rocket Man"

Ozzy Osbourne "Shot in the Dark"

John Elefante "Carry on Wayward Son"

Frank Britton

Picture from Forum Theatre.

Frank Britton is an actor in the Washington, DC area and a part of the strong theater community in the area. He had surgery two days ago due to injuries he sustained from being mugged and beat up after an opening night cast party for his current project The Last Days of Judas Iscariot which is being performed at the Forum Theatre. You can read about what happened to Frank at DC Metro Theater Arts.

There is a gofundme page set up to raise funds for Frank's medical expenses. Sad that violence happens and sad there are victims. However it is wonderful to see the theater community of Washington come together for Frank Britton.

R.I.P Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou passed away today. Not many people who drop out of high school get awarded with over 30 honorary degrees and were able to become a professor at Wake Forest University. Then again not everyone is as talented or unique as Maya Angelou. Her life was not easy, she had to overcome a lot in her life but she did achieve success.

And Still I Rise

Awards

She was awarded The National Medal of the Arts, The Lincoln Medal, and The Presidential Medal of Freedom. She won three Grammy Awards for her spoken word albums. She has won other awards and been nominated for several honors.

His Day is Done

She is best known for I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings and her poem On the Pulse of Morning. However, I am not going to persuade you from exploring her other works as well.

Just Do Right

Maya Angelou thanks for your art, the poetry, the literature, your plays. Thank you for teaching and influencing others. Through your works you were a teacher long before you were a professor. May you rest in peace.

On the Pulse of Morning

Reflections on Memorial Day

Memorial Day has become a holiday marking the unofficial start of summer. It is a much bigger day than that. It is a day to remember those servicemen who gave the ultimate sacrifice. It should be a somber reminder to all the cost for conflicts, military actions, and wars.

Politicians and diplomats need to be reminded of this cost before they decide to enter a new confrontation. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guards have highly trained personnel. They deserve our support and our gratitude.

Certainly their are times to fight. Sometimes sacrifices need to be made. Diplomats need to find peaceful solutions. Politicians need to seek out peaceful policies. Peace is what we should be looking for and fewer graves filled with young people who gave all.

Indy 500 Moments

My latest article Six Historic and Exciting Moments in Indy 500 History obviously deals with the Indianapolis 500. I am going to add to it here by adding some videos that fit in with my moments.

Starting at the beginning...

Tommy Milton...

                                                           Janet Guthrie..

                                                                     
                                                              1987 Indy 500
                                                                         

                                                                        




                                                        1992 Indianapolis 500

                                                                                 
                                                          Last year's race..

                                                                   
Finding newsreel footage on youtube to share on my blog was a time bending experience. Also the changes in the cars are pretty pronounced through the years. Who do you think will win this time? Thanks for stopping by check in soon for something new!

Post 1000

Well my blog reaches a milestone with this post. This is post 1000.

Let's start with a theme song for this post..

Post One

Here is how it all started in Early September 2007.

My first blog about a book..

My thoughts on the award winning Civil War fiction book Nashville 1864 by Madison Jones.

My first post to get triple digit page views..

Was one asking: Why do weekends go so fast?.

As I look back on my blog. I see how the blog has improved. I see how I have become a better writer. It is also cool to see what I have accomplished writing wise.

I'll leave you with Jimmy Buffett..there is still so much to do! See you on post 1001.

My Top Five Athletes of the Past 10 years

An assignment I had for an article was to name the top five athletes of the past five years. You can read my article here. My explanations are in my article. Any list like this leaves off other athletes who could deserve to be on a list like mine. However, these are my choices but I enjoy the debates, the comments, suggestions after all an article like this should stir some up.

One thing I couldn't add to my article was highlights and videos. Hopefully, I can pick out some entertaining ones. So sit back and enjoy!

Lindsey Vonn

Usain Bolt

Lionel Messi

Peyton Manning

LeBron James

Check out my article. It appears I am writing some sports articles again. However, they are coming from a different angle so I hope you enjoy. Thanks for stopping by. Stay tuned for a special post soon!

Celebrating Taj Mahal

Today Saturday May 17 was Taj Mahal's birthday. The 17 year old blues man is a living legend. I first saw him open up for Eric Clapton many years ago, then I saw him at the Wanee Festival in 2011, but it was when I saw him in 2012 at the State Theatre in Falls Church was when he blew my mind!

Here is a sample from the show I saw at Wanee in 2011...

with the Allman Brothers too...

My kinda blues here..

He is probably best known for this song...

Hope he has many more birthdays! Thanks for tuning in..

Flood Damage:Pensacola Manna Food Pantries

As you may have heard the Pensacola area has been hit with some flooding lately.

Many have insurance, many will be able to rebuild and replace. However, the Manna Food Pantry in Pensacola was wiped out. You can see a video here.

Luckily with help from Gulf Winds Federal Credit Union and the community of Pensacola the raised over 135,000 for repairs.

However, they still need help. They feed the hungry in our community and need our help so Pensacola doesn't have flood victims later when the hungry can't be fed.

Here is a link to their website!
.

R.I.P H.R. Giger

H.R. Giger passed away at the age of 74 yesterday. He is known for creating the creature for the movie Aliens and for the album cover art he created. I am drawn more to the latter . However, I think the Swiss artist would like to be remembered for his art.


A trailer to the movie...

Here is the cover for Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery



Giger also did the artwork for Danzig's third album How the Gods Kill



He also did the cover for Debbie Harry's Kookoo



These are just a few examples. He will be missed in music, film and in art. However his work will live on.

The Blog of Nothing

There are plenty of things to blog about. Just nothing is moving me. I thought I would write about something in the morning. Nothing. I visited some blogs from the A to Z Challenge as part of the "road trip."Sure they had ideas for blog posts. Late night, well here I am staring at the blank screen that is my blog.

Burnout? Lack of motivation? The evaporation of creative thinking from my mind? Possibly.Maybe I am just in need of recharging the blog batteries. Maybe I have a bunch of ideas posted on my walls but I have awful aim with darts?

I don't know. Nothing is moving me. No subjects are calling me to write about them. A whole lot of nothing for the blog. Sometimes nothing is just the thing to blog about.

Thoughts on the Jacksonville Jaguars Draft

I don't like the pick of Blake Bortles with the third overall pick in the NFL Draft. I think they could have gotten him or similar talent later in the first round and I would have rather them trade down and receive another pick or something. On the other hand the Jaguars were decisive and made the decision Bortles was the Quarterback of the future for the team. That's who they wanted and that's who they picked.

I really liked their next picks! If you are planning a pass attack for the future you need to get your quarterback some targets. The Jags picked Marqise Lee a receiver out of USC with their first second round pick.

Then Jacksonville selected Penn State wide receiver Allen Robinson..

In the third round the Jaguars selected someone to help protect the quarterback with OL Brandon Linder from Miami.

Aaron Colvin a defensive back from Oklahoma to add depth to the defensive secondary.

In the fifth round Jacksonville drafted FSU's Telvin Smith a linebacker and . drafted a defensive end Chris Smith.

In the sixth they added center Luke Bowanko from Virginia and running back Storm Johnson in the final round. A very sold draft.

Happy Birthday Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson is a blues legend sometimes referred to as The King of the Blues. Today his his birthday.
  Robert Johnson influenced blues players and rockers years after he passed away in 1938.

Eric Clapton performing "Hellhound on my Trail"

The Rolling Stones "Love in Vain"

Led Zeppelin "Travelling Riverside Blues"

He did more than influence rockers, he was a rocker! Born in 1911 and died in 1938. Robert Johnson was a member of the 27 Club way before their was a 27 Club. You know the 27 Club the list of rockers who died at 27 including Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse and sadly too many more.

Sweet Home Chicago..

He lived the myth life. The devil and crossroads legend. His affairs. His drink. All add into a rock and roll persona years before rock had been invented.

This is probably the most famous Johnson cover Cream "Crossroads"

Happy Birthday Robert Johnson..

MVP Kevin Durant

Congratulations to the Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant. He is the first person from an Oklahoma City NBA team to win the MVP award. The first person to win the award not named LeBron James to win the honor in three years and only the second person besides LeBron James to win the award in six years.

The Other Hardware:

Durant has already won an NBA Rookie of the Year Award, an Olympic Gold Medal, four NBA scoring titles, and has been named an All-Star five times.

The numbers..

Leading the league in scoring by averaging 32 points a game is a great argument for the MVP Award. Averaging 7.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists also helped. Leading his team to the playoffs with one of the best records in the NBA is icing on the cake!

I like Kevin winning since Oklahoma City is a smaller market team. Now we have to wait to see who ends up being the NBA Champs!

Reflections on the 2014: A to Z Challenge

The 2014 April A to Z Challenge is over and now it is time for the reflection part.



I survived and I did a post a day. Some posts were easier than others.



Did my blog grow?

Yes four more people started to follow my blog. I had over 2,000 pageviews for the month.
I really liked the comments. Most months I don't get many but in April I get a few. I like them, I like the feedback, the interaction, it kind of makes the blog come alive. I also stumbled into quite a few interesting blogs as well.

The staff was cool. I enjoy the challenge and have done it a few years running.

What didn't work..

I confess I had trouble figuring out how to follow some peoples blog. Some folks I couldn't even find their blogs. The challenge has grown so big!

I like the categories. Perhaps more linking by categories in the future would be a suggestion. This coming from the scatterbrained blogger.

The challenge did get me back to writing and back into blogging. Hopefully my blog will continue with the momentum and grow a bit more!

More than likely I will be back for the challenge in April of 2015!

Happy Cinco de Mayo 2014

It is May 5,2014 time to celebrate a day in Mexican history that is celebrated more in he United States than Mexico! For a few facts you can read my post I published last year. It s a day I have been known to celebrate with a Mexican meal and/or a Mexican beverage.

Here is what CNN thinks you need to know about this day...

As you see this year I am adding new videos for a new celebration. Below Jimmy Kimmel takes it to the street last year..

I think the answers have to be offensive to some one...

Any way enjoy Cinco de Mayo and be safe!

Turned my Daughter's Birthday Party into an article

Just got back from another road trip. Thought I would share another article I had published during the A to Z challenge. The assignment was to write an article on how to throw a birthday party for a young girl. So, I wrote one called How I Had a Birthday Party for a 7-year-old-girl for under $150. It is a true article and hopefully it offers some helpful advice.



I had written some other helpful Birthday party articles in December of 2007 and January 2008. They were pretty much top ten lists of places to throw a party in Chicago and Dallas. Who knows maybe I will write some more articles on birthdays in the future.

The Kentucky Derby

Who do you think is going to win the Kentucky Derby? My bet is some florist and Early Times will make out just fine. You will find out why I think that and learn a few things about the great horse race if you read my article Five Surprising Kentucky Derby Facts.

Didn't take me long to jump back into the shameless self promotion mode after the April A to Z Challenge ended. Don'y worry I don't write enough to do that to often!

Here is footage from Secretariat's 1973 Kentucky Derby win.

I always lie to add something new or different when I promote something I wrote. 40 years later from the above video we have this..

Just trying to get you ready for the big race, now let me find that Mint Julep recipe..