Check out the cool xmas present I got. This is the poster that will be on sale at the NYE shows. Buy one! They look tres cool hanging on the wall:
Check out the some other Wes Freed artwork my buddy Rich purchased. If you like southern gothic then you definitely should have some Wes Freed art on your wall.
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Alablwag uses DBT lyrics in a political post. My two favorite things in the word. Check it out here.
Like most sons whose fathers have died, Jerry Phillips wants to keep the memory of his dad alive. And when your father is the man who single-handedly changed the face of music in America -- even the world -- a weeklong musical party seems like the best idea.
The second annual Sam Phillips Music Celebration honors the Florence native who owned Sun Records in Memphis, Tenn., and launched the careers of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and others.
The week's events coincide with Sam Phillips' birthday -- Jan. 5, 1923. He died in July 2003.
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To those lucky ones that will be in attendance for the DBT shows tonight and tomorrow night, have much fun!!! I wish I was going to be there.
Today we take a look at shitty organizations with shitty products:
First up, perennially topping shit lists: Wal-Mart. These fuckers won't even evacuate customers from a store under a bomb threat. Welcome to Wal-Mart, indeed!
It was the police looking for a bomb. Up front, police officers, the SWAT team and others were busy searching the store next to customers who were browsing for gifts. The police looked in jewelry counters, wrapping paper rolls, freezers, the back room where trucks unload and closets at Tire Lube Express.
During the nearly two-hour search, Wal-Mart officials opted not to evacuate the busy discount store even though police recommended they do so. Wal-Mart officials said the call was a hoax and not a threat.
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 24 — Microsoft is facing an early crisis of confidence in the quality of its Windows Vista operating system as computer security researchers and hackers have begun to find potentially serious flaws in the system that was released to corporate customers late last month.
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And the shittiest of the shitty.... The Bush Administration.
Thank god Bush is tackling this Iraq problem trying to find a solution. Hell, the guy who started this war didn't do shit for 3+ years.... Wait.....
It is always 'unclear' with this jackass:
It's unclear whether Bush will signal his desires or just seek further consultation when he meets at his Texas ranch on Thursday with Vice President Dick Cheney and other members of the National Security Council.
James Brown will be returned Thursday to the site of his debut — the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem — so the public that saw and heard him leave a lasting impression on music can see him one last time, the Rev. Al Sharpton said Tuesday.
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It's the fart game son! You'll play one day (2nd day in a row with an Eddie Murphy reference)
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) - Brian Bruggeman caused a stink at the Lincoln County Jail earlier this month and will now have to answer for it in court. Another inmate, Jesse Dorris, alleges that Bruggeman's flatulence, passed in close proximity to Dorris, sparked a Dec. 14 fight between the two at the jail.
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Oh, and Gerald Ford died. (I didn't know he was still alive)
'Are we gonna get wet in the hot-tub'? 'YEAH' 'Are we gonna sweat in the hot-tub'? 'YEAH'
ATLANTA (AP) - "Godfather of Soul" James Brown remained the hardest-working man in show business to the end, telling friends from his hospital bed that he'd be in Times Square on New Year's Eve, even though he had pneumonia. His heart gave out a few hours later, on Christmas morning.
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I got hopes and dreams and plans and schemes enough to make you cry.....
Few places are less festive than a supermarket checkout in December, with overworked staff scanning frozen hams and bags of mixed nuts as fast as they can. Not all of us find it easy to spare a smile for these hardworking people at Christmas. But there is now one more reason to give checkout staff our sympathy: Not only do they labor for low rewards, but they are also being spied upon by economists.
MILWAUKEE - Kevin Campanella hates buying and receiving Christmas presents that he says inevitably disappoint. This year, no such worries.
Campanella plans to seek "serenity now" by celebrating Festivus, a wacky holiday popularized in a 1997 "Seinfeld" episode. Billed as "Festivus for the rest of us," the holiday celebrated by the Costanza clan on Dec. 23 features an airing of grievances and feats of strength in which a guest must pin the host before the party ends.
We all know the holiday routine. Dashing through the traffic in a four-door SUV to celebrate the season as a family. There's one snag -- often we aren't laughing all the way.
As San Francisco marriage and family therapist Tracey Gersten says, "Everybody is hoping for this Norman Rockwell holiday. But it can turn into Roseanne Barr very quickly."
In fact, let's admit it, bickering on the holidays is nearly as much a holiday tradition as trimming the tree. In theory, we look forward to getting together because we share a bond of family. But in reality, we also share a long and sometimes touchy history.
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Maybe there is a god. The only thing that has given me the warm and fuzzies this holiday season:
Authorities arrested a man on Tuesday who, they said, was caught on camera throwing rocks at the Republican Headquarters building in Columbus.
Officials said windows at the headquarters on South 5th Street have been broken nearly a dozen times, NBC 4's Erin Tate reported.
They also said staff members have nearly been pelted with thrown objects.
Republicans said they thought the vandalism would die down after the recent elections, but that wasn’t the case.
In the middle of Joshua Bush's forehead, two inches above his eyes, lies the evidence that prosecutors say could send the teenager to prison for attempted murder: a 9 mm bullet, lodged just under the skin.
Hey you guys, while we're on the subject of cool little kids, I have a request.
We're having an art auction for Sabina (the lil' girl with the brain tumor) that will feature some of her work - she's a pretty good artist for 7 years old!
Unfortunately, because Sabina's vision has been impeded by the tumor, she isn't able to put out very much art these days.
We've begun looking for art from other kids to be auctioned off as well. So if you have or know a kid that likes to draw, color or paint, and who would like to send in some art to be auctioned off for the Sabina fund, let me know offlist (or at jenn@...) and I'll give you the lowdown on where to send it.
Thanks so much to everyone who has donated to Sabina's fund and helped out. She's a sweet little girl to whom fate has dealt a horrible blow, and every little bit you've done has helped her and her family immensely.
-Jenn
Check out the Adams Housecat! benefit show for Sabina by Patterson, Cooley and the EZB a few weeks ago on Southern Shelter. Some great tunes on this one. My favorite is Airplane Screams. Would love to hear a studio version of that song.
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Speaking of PHood, his new website is up and looking fine. He seems to be pumping out new songs all the time. You can check out some of the newer lyrics here and if you want to hear a couple of the songs click here. I dig and relate very well to 'Thanksgiving Filter'.
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Let us not forget out troops stuck in that hell hole which is Irag. Hopefully, once the new Congress convenes, we'll have a solid plan on getting them the hell out soon (and also a solid impeachment plan to take Bush's dangerous ass out of office).
I want to give a loud 'GET WELL' to our DBT Lister Row!
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I compiled the Top Ten Album posts from the Yahoo list and only one of you ranked DBT #1. Bunch of damn Judaseseses. (Just when I get use to the group think that has pervaded the U.S. over the past 6 years, the Dems have to win and bring back respect for varied points of view).
BUT, DBT did receive the most mentions and there were 72 albums listed by you folks. Thanks for the carpal tunnel!
I'm listing below those albums that received 5 or more mentions but the entire list can be read in Excel or PDF formats on the DBT Yahoo List Files. Shoot me an email if you have any problems downloading and I'll send it to you via email.
Here we go: Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse - 11 mentions - Average Rank: 3.8 The Drams - Jubilee Dive - 9 mentions - Average Rank: 4 Centro-Matic - Fort Recovery - 6 mentions - Average Rank: 3 Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood- 6 mentions - Average Rank: 6 Bob Dylan - Modern Times - 5 mentions - Average Rank: 4 Lucero - Rebels Rogues & Sworn Brothers - 5 mentions - Average Rank: 3
Check out the remaining list. Lots of varied music and a great
This guy is hilarious in his appraisal of music row. Seems to have a pretty good handle on 'real' country too: Check out Cooley on his list of 100 greatest country songs of all time. (I think in fairness he should've included one from each of the boys, but there you are)
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Here's some news of other bands that ranked highly on the DBT Yahoo List Top 10 Albums of the Year:
""Des Moines” proves Brent still has the songwriting chops- for those of you who think he’s gone soft - a song about trying to connect with a significant other on a cell phone that drops the call:
“What a fool I was to trust Words so critical to say To a wireless phone call From 800 miles away”
He then takes the familiar (and oh-so-annoying) marketing slogan “Can you hear me now?” and turns it into a desperate and frustrated plea
Speaking of the Drams, they'll be touring the West Coast in early 2007. I'm very excited about seeing them again. Should be good fun. I'll take many pictures.
"Craig Finn: Yeah, I have to say we probably played that up a little bit early just to get an angle. But one of the things when we started playing was that it sounded really sweet because we were going out to the bars and hearing 'House of Jealous Lovers' every night. It's a great song; I don't dislike that music as much as I may have said I did at the time. But what happened at that time in New York is what always happens. You had a couple of great bands: Liars, Rapture, whatever. And then they started to get co-opted. You'd go out to see a band at Mercury Lounge, and then the two bands before that would be disco-punk. I think taking a contrarian position is kind of like selling short in the stock market; you're like, 'I bet people are going to really like this, if we play some loose rock'n'roll.' I think if it's a reaction against anything, it's a reaction against everything in indie rock that just isn't fun. I've said this in other interviews, but this kid said that he went to all these shows that year and us and the Drive-By Truckers were the only two bands that smiled. I thought that's a bad thing. It's a sad state of affairs if that's true."
"LONDON (Reuters) - When finance minister Gordon Brown stands up to make his pre-budget speech next week, aging rockers Cliff Richard, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones might do well to tune in.
Not normally the stuff of rock'n'roll, Wednesday's address looks set to reject music industry calls for an extension of copyright on sound recordings to 95 years from 50, meaning veteran acts' early hits could soon be free for all to use."
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Joyeux Noel, y'all. That's French for "Merry Fucking Christmas".
Here's to an excellent 2007 with much great music coming from our favorite artist!
Y'all have fun at the New Year's Shows in Atlanta. I'm sorely upset that I ain't gonna be there so I best be seeing plenty of pictures and stories!
This wasn't just the residuum of any holy human—nor was it just any body part. It was the foreskin of Jesus Christ, the snipped-off tip of the savior's penis, the only piece of his body he supposedly left on earth.
NEW YORK (AP) -- More than nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex, according to a new study. The high rates extend even to women born in the 1940s, challenging perceptions that people were more chaste in the past.
"This is reality-check research," said the study's author, Lawrence Finer. "Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans, and has been for decades."
LAZARO CARDENAS, Mexico - Soldiers trying to seize control of one Mexico's top drug-producing regions found the countryside teeming with a new hybrid marijuana plant that can be cultivated year-round and cannot be killed with pesticides.
"Conventional" wisdom from the D.C. beltway pundocracy (read: dipshits who have no clue but have all the air time to influence the conversation) should be constantly ridiculed then perpetually ignored.
Keepin' it real:
It wasn't all that long ago that Democrats and liberals were said to be out of touch with "the real America," which was defined as encompassing the states that voted for President Bush in 2004, including the entire South. Democrats seemed to accept this definition of reality, and they struggled -- often looking ridiculous in the process -- to become fluent in NASCAR talk and to discuss religion with the inflections of a white Southern evangelicalism foreign to so many of them.
Now the conventional wisdom sees Republicans in danger of becoming merely a Southern regional party. Isn't it amazing how quickly the supposedly "real America" was transformed into a besieged conservative enclave out of touch with the rest of the country? Now religious moderates and liberals are speaking in their own tongues, and the free-thinking, down-to-earth citizens in the Rocky Mountain states are, in large numbers, fed up with right-wing ideology.
Now, before everyone gets upset and thinks that we are saying all southerners are racists: the data does not say that. But when it comes to conservative white southerners, I'm sorry to say that the evidence is clear. When all is said and done, the thing that separates them from the rest of the nation is racism. All the racial codes, the slick misdirection, even the appeals to homophobia and religion are in some sense directed at this one simple characteristic. And that characteristic is the thing that trumps all the other concerns about economic justice that Democrats persist in believing they can use to persuade white southern males to vote for them. Democrats simply cannot thread that needle.
Schaller does not "write off the south" as so many assume. Indeed, he explicitly endorses Howard Dean's 50 state strategy to build for the future and ensure that Democrats are prepared to step in where opportunities present themselves. What he is saying is it is impossible for Democrats to currently win nationally by trying to appeal to the southern conservative majority, which seems to me to be an obvious point. You can't be all things to all people.
So why, despite all appearances of actually having a national debate right now, do people keep insisting that we mount one?
Perhaps it's because the mainstream media are too timid to declare the difference between right and wrong. Imagine if journalism consisted of more than a collage of conflicting talking points. Imagine the difference it would make if more brand-name reporters broke from the bizarre straitjacket of "balance," which equates fairness with putting all disputants on equal epistemological footing, no matter how deceitful or moronic they may be.
There's a market for news that weighs counterclaims and assesses truth value. It just hasn't kept up with demand. No wonder Jon Stewart has such a loyal audience: He has a point of view, and it's rooted in the reality-based — not the ideology-based — world.
The yuletide log is burning (what the fuck is a yuletide log anyway?).... candy canes are rotting teeth..... Visas are smoking from over use.... christians are pissed about something that doesn't exist.....
Once again, it's time to indulge in the perennial yuletide joys: harried trips to mobbed shopping malls, wasteful spending on pointless presents, spikes in depressive and suicidal feelings. And to these merriments we can now add what is fast becoming another cherished annual rite: defending the tolerant, pluralistic, ecumenical society that most of us have known and loved for decades against the Christian zealots, conservative bullies, and opportunistic pundits who insist that liberals, Jews, Muslims, and other un-American types are waging a "War Against Christmas."
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This is the kind of mistletoeI'm talkin' about! Pucker up and puff, puff, pass!!
Determined to make the Bush Administration seem sane by comparison, John WALNUTS! McCain is finally shifting into the full-on crazy mode we’ve long awaited.
Nutty McNutz has boldly introduced legislation that would make bloggers legally and financially responsible for whatever nonsense is left by random anonymous people in the comments. Oh, and bloggers would be required to figure out which random anonymous commenters are Sex Offenders, and then ban those members of Congress from commenting.
"Dramatic new photographs of Mars have revealed the possible existence of water on its surface.
The images - released for the first time on Wednesday by the US space agency NASA - were taken earlier this year in an attempt to unlock the secrets of the Red Planet."
A few odds and ends as we start our march towards over eating, much alcohol consumption, making an ass out of ourselves at Christmas parties, massive displays of will power for not killing certain relatives, screaming kids, crying kids, crap that you'll never use.... and pine needles.
I know a lot of folks claim that their part of the country produces the best barbeque. I'm making a claim right here and right now that North Alabama, specifially The Shoals area produces the best barbeque in the world.
I back my argument by presenting Chris Lilly, 10 time World Barbeque Champion and host of the Kingsford Barbeque Championship Series. (He's not hosting the finals but he was hosting all the prelims). Chris is from Florence. Check out the link above and click on 'More Grilling Tips from Chris Lilly' to see him in action.
I've drank several beers with Chris back in the day and played several hands of poker with him. Now that he's barbeque famous, I'll state that I went out with his sister a few times back in high school. She was a looker, yes sir!
"Today, please welcome Ty Hillin from Paddlin’ Pigs BBQ to our stable of fine writers. Ty’s cooking one of the classic recipes in the barbeque world, Chris Lilly’s Pork Shoulder. It’s damn fine stuff. You can find more of Ty’s writing and stories about barbecue on his blog.
Today I’m smoking 2 pork shoulders. I’m using Chris Lilly’s Grand Championship Pork Shoulder Recipe from the book Peace Love & Barbecue. His recipe calls for an injection and dry rub. The injection was injected last night.This morning I applied the rub at 5:00 AM and placed in the smoker at 6:30 AM. Pork butts(shoulders) cook for about an hour to an hour and a half per pound. For pulled pork, the internal temp needs to reach 195*. Here are the butts injected and rubbed."
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Pictures and Books
Here's Steve Richerson and myself filming each other backstage during the Thanksgiving show. Cooley got caught in the cross hairs but notice the freakish vein in Cooley's arm. You know how some world class athletes have bigger hearts or bigger lungs than normal folks? Cooley has an unnatural supply of blood that pumps to his forearms so he can play such incredible guitar.
We DBT fans are some literate fuckers. Interspersed between the pictures from the Thanksgiving show at the Alabama Theatre are what some of the Yahoo Listers are/will be reading.
Here's a link to the original post started by tybeedawg if you want to check out the reviews and find out who's reading what on the potty.
As always, support your locally owned, locally operated bookstores!
I'll show this picture to some chilrens one day and tell them, "Patterson Hood had 4 arms and could play two guitars at once.... and had a blue ox.... and stood 20 feet tall..."
Hopefully, members of the Bush Klan... oops, I meant 'clan'.... ok, maybe I didn't..... members of the Bush Klan (also known by their Greek name of I Tappa Kegga) will forever fade from the political scene of America. And, hopefully, the U.S. now understands that it isn't too cool being governed by a bunch of silver spooned, faux southern, frat boys who can't manage to distinguish the difference between their asshole and elbow.
"Dec. 8, 2006 - On the eve of a report that repudiates his son’s leadership, former president George H.W. Bush broke down crying when he recalled how his other son, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, lost an election a dozen years ago and then came back to serve two successful terms. The elder Bush has always been a softie, but this display of emotion was so over the top that it had to be about something other than Jeb’s long-ago loss."
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Economic news is always a good read, isn't it? Ok, maybe not, but Krugman just penned one of those rare economic pieces that are a must read to understand how we're losing the oh-so-important middle class. Read the entire article, but below are some choice bits:
"Why doesn't Bush get credit for the strong economy?' .....
Are people just ungrateful? Is the administration failing to get its message out? Are the news media, as conservatives darkly suggest, deliberately failing to report the good news?
None of the above....."
Here's some good perspective for ya:
In 1969, General Motors was the country's largest corporation aside from AT&T, which enjoyed a government-guaranteed monopoly on phone service. GM paid its chief executive, James M. Roche, a salary of $795,000 -- the equivalent of $4.2 million today, adjusting for inflation. At the time, that was considered very high. But nobody denied that ordinary GM workers were paid pretty well. The average paycheck for production workers in the auto industry was almost $8,000 -- more than $45,000 today. GM workers, who also received excellent health and retirement benefits, were considered solidly in the middle class.
Today, Wal-Mart is America's largest corporation, with 1.3 million employees. H. Lee Scott, its chairman, is paid almost $23 million -- more than five times Roche's inflation-adjusted salary. Yet Scott's compensation excites relatively little comment, since it's not exceptional for the CEO of a large corporation these days. The wages paid to Wal-Mart's workers, on the other hand, do attract attention, because they are low even by current standards. On average, Wal-Mart's non-supervisory employees are paid $18,000 a year, far less than half what GM workers were paid thirty-five years ago, adjusted for inflation. And Wal-Mart is notorious both for how few of its workers receive health benefits and for the stinginess of those scarce benefits."
And to make it more clear:
"Start with 1973. If you assume that a height of six feet represents the average income in that year, the person on the far left side of the line -- representing those Americans living in extreme poverty -- is only sixteen inches tall. By the time you get to the guy at the extreme right, he towers over the line at more than 113 feet.
Now take 2005. The average height has grown from six feet to eight feet, reflecting the modest growth in average incomes over the past generation. And the poorest people on the left side of the line have grown at about the same rate as those near the middle -- the gap between the middle class and the poor, in other words, hasn't changed. But people to the right must have been taking some kind of extreme steroids: The guy at the end of the line is now 560 feet tall, almost five times taller than his 1973 counterpart."
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My friends over at Wheelhouse Productions worked very closely with Mr. Galloway and forged a great friendship with him. I was very happy to see this article as this man knows what he's talking about and should be listened to:
"NEW YORK Last week's Iraq Study Group recommendations are being hit from all sides, by those who claim they go too far -- or don't go nearly far enough. Among those now weighing in with the latter view is legendary war reporter Joe Galloway. .....
Galloway, who has been a persistent critic of the war for three years and early on called for the firing of Donald Rusmfeld, retired earlier this year from Knight Ridder but continues his weekly column for McClatchy and others. He has covered more than half a dozen wars, from Vietnam to Iraq, with distinction, and co-authored the book, 'We Were Soldiers Once...and Young' (he is now penning a sequel).
A excerpt from Galloway's column follows."
***
All the politicians paid the customary lip service in praising the troops and commending them for the terrible sacrifices they must continue to endure while the wrangling and dithering over a futile war goes on with no end in sight.
How can they look at themselves in the mirror every morning?
Some even suggest sending additional U.S. forces to Iraq -- 20,000 to 30,000 more to try to clean up Baghdad, or as Sen. John McCain suggests, 100,000 more to achieve a victory of some kind.
What are they thinking?
If we don't listen to a man like Mr. Galloway, then we'll just spend more time watching these numbers go way up. Check you state:
A steady stream of people complaining about a rogue story doing the rounds on the web about a lion and midgets fighting. All in the worst possible taste and the instigator had placed it on a news template that looked exactly like a BBC News one."
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What the hell is up with all the gay pastors in Colorado?
"Did you hear? Soy makes you gay. Or that's what the wingnuts now say. That's why all Asians whose diet consists heavily of soy products (like tofu) are gay and their population is dying out. Like in China."
I've been saying this for years, but all these vegetables will kill you.... or make you gay:
Fresh raw vegetables like lettuce, spinach, tomatoes and green onions were responsible for the illness or deaths of nearly 19,000 people nationwide over a five-year period.
Vegetables are nearly as dangerous as under-cooked meat when it comes to transmitting deadly food illnesses like E. coli, salmonella and hepatitis, according to a study of federal outbreak records by Scripps."
"NEW YORK - Al Gore is waging a fierce campaign for recognition and an Oscar statuette for his global warming documentary, while reviving talk that he's pursuing a bigger prize: the presidency."
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If Gore doesn't run then I'm voting for this 8 year old......
"They call themselves the �30-Something Working Group,� a loose collection of House Democrats in their 30s and 40s who have begun making waves.
During the campaign season, the group took to the floor of the House nightly to give speeches during a period known as special orders, when lawmakers members are permitted to speak for up to an hour about any topic after the day�s business is complete."
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I've been a Craigslist user since 1999 when I first moved to San Francisco. It has been amazing to see the growth of the site. In San Francisco there is virtually nothing you can't find on CL.
If Craig wanted to make money and/or take this company public it would make Yahoo/Google combined look like your local dollar store.
"Jim Buckmaster, the chief executive of Craigslist, caused lots of head-scratching Thursday as he tried to explain to a bunch of Wall Street types why his company is not interested in “monetizing” his ridiculously popular Web operation. Appearing at the UBS global media conference in New York, Mr. Buckmaster took questions from the bemused audience, which apparently could not get its collective mind around the notion that Craigslist exists to help Web users find jobs, cars, apartments and dates — and not so much to make money."
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San Francisco Values: Fighting off a Great White Shark that drags you 15 feet underwater.
"The national job approval rating of President Bush has plummeted to 30%, an all–time low in the latest Zogby International telephone poll, sinking below the 31% approval rating he dropped to in early June."
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Is there any reason for Malkin's existence? Why she as any credibility with any media outlet is beyond me. Yet, you can always count on FOX to allow the raving idiots a forum to.... well, just plain make shit up.
"SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts (AP) -- After 12 months of naked partisanship on Capitol Hill, on cable TV and in the blogosphere, the word of the year for 2006 is ... 'truthiness.'
The word -- if one can call it that -- best summed up 2006, according to an online survey by dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster.
'Truthiness' was credited to Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert, who defined it as 'truth that comes from the gut, not books.'
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This is what I'm talking about. I gotsta gets me one of these jobs. Seriously, though and excellent read:
But arguably no big business has smashed the clock quite so resolutely as Best Buy. The official policy for this post-face-time, location-agnostic way of working is that people are free to work wherever they want, whenever they want, as long as they get their work done. 'This is like TiVo (TIVO ) for your work,' says the program's co-founder, Jody Thompson. By the end of 2007, all 4,000 staffers working at corporate will be on ROWE. Starting in February, the new work environment will become an official part of Best Buy's recruiting pitch as well as its orientation for new hires. And the company plans to take its clockless campaign to its stores--a high-stakes challenge that no company has tried before in a retail environment.
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This story is a year old but you have to read to believe it. As sick as it is..... If anyone has a video of this event, I'm dyin' to see it. I'm a sick bastard, I know:
"The fight was slated when an angry fan contested Yang Sihamoni, President of the CMFL, claiming that one lion could defeat his entire league of 42 fighters."
UPDATE: Steve Richerson (Trash) has put up some footage of the DBT show on Thanksgiving on Youtube. Check it out:
UPDATE AGAIN: Damn, we got all kinds of good stuff coming this Saturday. Here's the "Aftermath USA" video I reference in the Cooley's Birthday post. Looks like it just went up on Youtube:
(actually we salt the piss out of it before we taste it. We just know and we don't need our damn-fool taste buds tellin' us otherwise. It needs salt. Period. End of discussion).....
Where the women start sassing you at age 6. (couldn't resist putting my little neice in the tour. Obviously, she's got a lot of her uncle in her)....
... And when those southern women ask you to play some Dylan, by god, you better play some Dylan.
Where Cooley might not have a need for brand new set of golf clubs... but you just might if you come visit 'cause we've got some mighty fine golf courses and some of the best hustlers in the world.
The following is a hole on the "School Master" course that's part of the Robert Trent Jones golf trail in Alabama. It is named after President Woodrow Wilson whose nickname was the "Schoolmaster" because he was once a teacher. Wilson Damn is also named after President Wilson.
It is located in Colbert County along the bluffs of the Tennessee River. There are two courses and both are amazing. I'm sure a PGA tournament is bound for these courses sometime in the future.
Our hometown PGA Tour member is Stewart Cink. I grew up playing golf with Stewart at Florence Country Club.
Where the woods in Alabama don't see no light.... well, in the fall and winter they see light and plenty of color..... and I'm sure the occassional moonshine still even to this day. The following pictures were taken on a walk-about on my buddy's land in Colbert County:
Where the Tennessee River coughs up the occassional dead body... but mainly supplies the region with much beauty and expensive lake front property. Doctors, lawyers and musicians.....
Where a world famous architect built a home for a family.
Below is a home in the neighborhood I grew up in which has recently been turned into a historical museum. This home was built by Frank Lloyed Wright for the Rosenbaum Family back in 1939. I remember being a wee lad and playing with a granddaughter of the Rosenbaums in this house.
The style is called Usonian and only 26 of these type of homes were built in the U.S. This is the only Frank Lloyed Wright structure in Alabama.
Drive-by Picture Taking
Let's take a trip out of Buttholeville proper to visit some good friends. First we'll cross O'Neil Bridge heading south.
The following picture was taken as we're driving over O'Neil. You can see the old railroad track, the new bridge and behind that Wilson Damn.
They converted the old railroad bridge into part of a walking trail that cuts through what was once called South Florence on the Colbert County side of the river. You can still find old curbsides and roads that were created for what was to be South Florence. The reason for South Florence was that Henry Ford came to town back in the early 20th century and he almost decided to build his car making factory here. Fortunately, he decided on Detroit.
As soon as you cross O'Neil Bridge and enter Sheffield there stands what was once Club XIII. Club XIII was the largest club in the Shoals for several years.
The original, original Club XIII was located just past the Alabama border in Tennessee. My aunt would tell me tales of waking up on the dance floor with the birds chirping in that particular locale.
A generation later.....
I worked as a bar back, bartender, doorman, DJ, contruction, etc. starting at the ripe old age of 19. Essentially, myself and my good friend and roommate at the time, Woodham, ran this joint when it first opened. Mike O'Rear owned the place but was never there as he was a talent agent/music manager and most of his business was in Nashville. Mike is a great man and the last I heard of him he was struggling with cancer (as so many in the Shoals are/were. Fucking Ford Plant/Reynolds Metals/TVA and all the other industries that used this place like a toilet. Again, fuck all of you). I hope he is still alive and well. If anybody has any info on O'Rear drop me an email. I'd like to know.
XIII was the best part of my existence between the ages of 19-22. We had a huge dance floor and in between live band sets we'd play dance music so you could get your grove as well as your rock on. Virgil Kane, Baghdad, Velcro Pygmies, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Atlanta Rhythm Section, shit, about a million other cover and original bands whose names I've already forgotten played there. We even talked O'Rear into booking Kyper for a show. Anyone remember the song 'Tic-tac-toe'?
The fire code was about 450 people but we would consistantly put between 700 and 800 in the place.
Club XIII was the major reason that I was a sophmore in college for a good 3 years. It was also one of the reasons I got out of Buttholeville. I was having too much fun at the club and not much fun anywhere else in town.
After I moved to Birmingham to attend UAB I'd come home on the weekends and work the door or bar or spin records... whatever was needed. By that time O'Rear had changed the main building, seen in the picture below, into a country music joint and the old car wash in the same lot was converted into a Rock Bar named Woodies.
The only time I've ever spent a night in jail occurred with my arrest just to the left of the red awning. Of the several times I should have been arrested and wasn't, this was the one occassion I should have never of been arrested. Luckily the prosecutor saw it the same way when I took those fuckers to court and settled before we even saw the judge.
But all good things come to an end and the bar is now a loan center. *Sigh* You can never go home again.
They'll hunt you like a dog.... (These are two of Jenn's mom and stepdad's pooches trying to figure out how to climb down a bluff in Frog Pond, Franklin County, AL)
Where tornadoes are birthed 5 miles north of......
After a nice visit to Franklin County let's head on back across the crick to Buttholeville proper and hook up with.....
Hwy 72....
Where the Great Car Dealer Wars were as much fact as the artistic fiction Patterson presents in a song with the same name..
Below are pictures of Nelda Stephenson's Chevrolet located on Florence Blvd (Hwy 72). This lot use to be named Bobby Mitchell Chevrolet. I don't have direct confirmation from Patterson on this but I do believe Jim Stephens in GCDW may partially represent the tale of Bobby Mitchell. Bobby Mitchell was gunned downed.....
In the door way right in the middle of the picture below.
Bobby and his wife were friends of my family. His wife baby sat me once during an emergency though I have not memories of it. Bobby was rumored to have been dealing drugs on the side. Hell, if you've ever lived in The Shoals chances are you've dealt some drugs... or at least consumed some.
Anyway it wasn't the drugs that did him in. I believe Bobby was killed by a mentally disturbed man.
Now, all the songs written by DBT that reference events that occured in North Alabama aren't 100 percent true. They're based on local lore then a fictional account is built around that base. Let's take a look a Decoration Day/Boys From Alabama.
There was a back woods, country-ass gang in Lauderdale county called The Dawson Gang. Rumor has it that The Dawson Gang were the ones who put the hit out on Buford Pusser. The Dawson's may also form the basis for The Lawson's in Jason's Decoration Day. I asked all my relatives if there were aware of a feud between the Dawson's and any Hill's or similarly named group. None of my people could recollect such a feud.
It was interesting to see the reaction some of them had to a mention of the Dawsons. My granddaddy on my mom's side had a fisceral reaction and stated that those were the meanest boys he had ever come across. This man served in WWII and at age 82 killed a deer while I was home for Thanksgiving and drug it out of the woods. Badass! Another relative stated that they weren't nothing but petty theives whose reputation was far greater than anything that they could actually pull off. It would be interesting to trade stories with Jason and Patterson regarding what they've been told about the Dawson's. I'm sure that legend has several version. If you think DBT cherry picked the best myths out of the Shoals then you be thinkin' wrong. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Florence/The Shoals is one of the most fucked up places in the world. Sometimes it is like living in a Stephen King novel. Southern Gothic doesn't even begin to describe it. There's another good 5 albums of wild ass stories that could be told but DBT is being gracious and leaving those for another band....
Movin' on down Hwy 72......
Where you better not be caught in Kendale with a wealthy man's bucket of paint...
