Chris Vernon Show producer Jon Roser, creator of such classic songs as “Why Grizzlies?,” “Chicken Wings Poppin’,” and “Movies” (full disclosure: the last of which namechecks yours truly), has risen to the moment with the current University of Memphis basketball controversy, penning the instant classic tune “Johnny Calipari” along with co-creator Mark McCleskey, who directed this Official Video:
Month: May 2009
Categories
Jay Reatard Sets the Date
A date has been set for the long-awaited release of Jay Reatard‘s first studio album for indie stalwart Matador Records. The album, titled Watch Me Fall, will be released on August 18th, Matador has announced.
The first single from the album, “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me” is currently available for download on Reatard’s own web site. The album will be Reatard’s first proper album release since 2006’s breakthrough Blood Visions. Reatard will presumably show off some of the material at the Hi-Tone Cafe Friday, July 10th, where he’ll team up with TV Smith, frontman of classic first-generation British punk band the Adverts.
Categories
Draft Podcast Appearance
I made an appearance tonight on a “Southwest Division” edition of the NBA Draft Day Countdown podcast. I was interviewed during the first 20 minutes of the roughly 70 minute podcast, touching on everything from options for the #2 pick to the make-up of the team’s frontcourt to the team’s decision-making structure. I just listened to it and don’t think I embarrassed myself, so check it out.
The podcast is available for free on iTunes — search “nbadraftday” in the podcast section. You can check out the NBA Draft Day Countdown main site here.
Oh, the strange things that I have found over the years. I recently told everyone the story (or what I knew of it) of Thomas Doran, the “Armless News Boy.” So to continue that happy theme, I thought I’d share this interesting old promotional flyer from Chas. R. Bowman, a fellow from the little town of Williford, Arkansas, who called himself the “Legless Key Tag Maker.” If you think THAT is strange, read on . . .
First of all, it’s an order form, and since the bottom part has been snipped off, I assume someone previously ordered key tags from Mr. Bowman. In fact, he begins this interesting epistle by expressing his thanks, with a compelling mix of gratitude and pity that have long been the hallmarks of any correspondence from the Lauderdales. Here’s what Mr. Bowman has to say:
MY DEAR FRIEND: Your nice order received, and have filled it as requested. I wish to thank you many times for the kindness shown me, and will appreciate anything you may throw my way, as a fellow handicapped as I needs all the help in his line I can get. Am in bad health and need all the cheer I can get. Yes — lung trouble. I feel sure after you have read over my price list, you and your friends will favor me with another order.
Good grief — no legs and now lung trouble! He goes on:
Last night, feeling a rare, unnatural burst of energy (I must tell my physicians about that), I began rooting through some of the 427,000 postcards archived in the Lauderdale Library. And by “archived” I mean dumped in shoe boxes, piled in file cabinets, and wedged under that wobbly leg of the dining-room table. My plan is to arrange them in some fashion, but invariably I find one card that is particularly odd or interesting, and then I get distracted. And before you know it, it’s almost 7 p.m. and time for bed!
But last night I uncovered this card, and you can see why it took my attention away from the others.
The image is a bit fuzzy, but it shows a handsome young man, dressed in a nice suit and dapper hat, holding a pen or pencil in his mouth, and apparently writing on a piece of paper “Thomas F. Doran — Armless News Boy.” And writing it better than I could, even if I used both arms. At the bottom of the card, much worn away, was this faded inscription: “LOST BOTH ARMS JUMPING ON FREIGHT TRAINS WHEN TWELVE YEARS OF AGE.”
Categories
zoo camp
Categories
Memphis Nondiscrimination Rally Draws 500
“Equal rights, please! Equal rights, please!” chants the crowd of hundreds gathered outside the steps of Cooper-Young’s First Congregational Church.
“Scream it loud enough that they can hear you at Bellevue Baptist Church!” yells Shelby County Commissioner Steve Mulroy …
Bianca Phillips was on the scene.
Categories
Link Roundup
Back from a week-long vacation with limited internet time and access, I’m going to set the table with a bunch of Griz-related links before I wade back in with my own stuff:
On Ricky Rubio: This awesome, lengthy True Hoop post on Ricky Rubio is a must-read. Henry Abbott lays out all the issues surrounding Rubio, especially with an informed, even-handed examination of both the upside and downside of Rubio’s game.
Draft Express earlier last week brought some clarity to Rubio question with probably the best piece anyone’s written about Rubio’s posturing in relationship to the Grizzlies.
Trade Rumors: ESPN.com’s Chad Ford, reporting from the Chicago pre-draft camp, leads with a Clippers-Thunder rumor. This, of course, is unacceptable from a Grizzlies perspective. There’s no way the Grizzlies can let the Clippers and OKC pull off an homage to the old Chris Webber-Penny Hardaway deal, with Hasheem Thabeet as the Shawn Bradley of the scenario. (Yes, I think Thabeet will be a better pro than Bradley, but you get the point.) The Thunder coming away with Blake Griffin simply cannot happen. Also of interest is some not-for-attribution commentary from some NBA front-office people questioning Rubio’s NBA future.
“Equal rights, please! Equal rights, please!” chants the crowd of hundreds gathered outside the steps of Cooper-Young’s First Congregational Church.
“Scream it loud enough that they can hear you at Bellevue Baptist Church!” yells Shelby County Commissioner Steve Mulroy, the sponsor of a non-discrimination ordinance that would protect gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender workers in Shelby County government.
The crowd at Sunday’s Unity Rally is gathered in support of Mulroy’s ordinance, which will go before the Shelby County Commission for a vote on Monday afternoon. Currently, there are no local, state, or federal laws to prohibit an employer from not hiring or firing someone based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.
Supporters wave signs reading “Work for Equality” and “End Workplace Discrimination.” Joining Mulroy on First Congo’s steps are ordinance supporters State Senator Beverly Marrero and former Shelby County Commissioner Walter Bailey.
“The intent of this ordinance is solely to level the playing field,” Bailey tells the enthusiastic crowd. “Employees shouldn’t be judged on their sexual orientation, but their job performance. That’s what counts.”
About 20 opponents of the non-discrimination ordinance, most of them Baptist pastors, gathered last Tuesday for a press conference outside the Shelby County Building. That opposition rally paled in comparison to the hundreds of rainbow flag-waving, sign-bearing participants of Sunday’s support rally.
“We make last Tuesday’s press conference look like nothing, don’t we?” Mulroy says, igniting cheers from the crowd.
The ordinance failed in county commission last Wednesday, after several commissioners cited religious reasons for not supporting workplace protections for gays. However, the full commission will vote on the ordinance Monday afternoon. The meeting begins at 1:30 p.m.
What do you get when you cross Jason D. Williams, the piano-pounding madman from Memphis, with a Krystal Burger, the tiny square slider that always tastes best at 2 a.m. after you’ve had about eleventy beers?
You get a commercial, that’s what. And you get weird viral materials like these clips of Jason D. in the studio talking about the time when Jerry Lee Lewis ate 108 Krystal Burgers. But Williams won’t actually be pitching any of the fast food restaurant’s famous mini-meals. When the spots start airing on June 1st, he’ll be the face, voice, and blazing fingers behind Krystal’s Big Angus Five Buck Meal deal. True story.
The commercials are slated to air in Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and in parts of Texas and North Carolina.