Category: Entertainment

Caylee Anthony: A Beautiful Life

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, Uncategorized5 Comments

By now, unless, as the Geico guy says, you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard about the verdict that was handed down in the trial of Casey Anthony, surviving mother of precious little 2 year old Caylee Anthony.

On July 15, 2008, Cindy Anthony called 9-1-1 in Orlando, Florida to report that her daughter, Casey Anthony, had stolen a car and some money. She called back later to report that her granddaughter, Casey’s daughter, 2-year-old Caylee Marie Anthony was missing and had been missing for more than a month.

Police interviewed Casey Anthony and arrested her for child endangerment after she told investigators several lies concerning the whereabouts of Caylee for the  31 days that Caylee had been missing.

On December 11, 2008, a water meter reader found the skeletal remains of 2-year-old Caylee, in a garbage bag near a small retention pond less than a half mile from her home.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the remains found at the site where those of a small child. Reports said a water meter reader picked up a garbage bag near Chickasaw Trail and Suburban Drive in the west Orlando area and a small skull fell out of the bag.

The bag was found 15 to 20 feet off a paved road. Tim Miller, founder Texas Equusearch, said he believes the area where the remains were found were not previously searched because the water level was too high.

Anthony, 25, was found not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter of a child. She was found guilty of four charges of providing false information to law enforcement officers.

Caylee was reported missing in July 2008. Anthony told law enforcement her daughter had been kidnapped by a nanny, but during the trial, Baez said Caylee drowned in the Anthony family pool on June 16, 2008.

Anthony was judged by a jury of her peers. Media saturation of the jury pool available for the case in the Orlando area forced the judge to select a jury from Pinellas county, just south of Tampa on Florida’s gulf coast, an area represented in Congress by Debbie Wasserman- Schultz.

Every lawyer that had any sort of half-baked idea concerning what was going on in this trial, got their mug on one of the Cable News Channels, as a featured legal expert. Wall-to-wall coverage necessitated it.

After the trial was over, Casey Anthony defense attorney Cheney Mason blasted the media and the so-called legal experts in a news conference:

I hope that this is a lesson to those of you that have indulged in media assassination for three years. Bias, prejudice and incompetent heads saying what would be and how to be. I’m disgusted by some of the lawyers who have done this.

I can tell you that my colleagues from coast to coast and border to border have condemned this whole process of lawyers getting on television and talking about cases that they don’t know a damn thing about. They don’t have the experience to back up their words or the law to do it. And now you’ve learned your lesson.

After Mason was finished gloating, lead defense attorney Jose Baez also spoke to the media:

While we’re happy for Casey, there are no winners in this case. Caylee has passed on far too soon. My driving force for the past three years has been to make sure that there is justice for Caylee and Casey, because Casey did not murder Caylee, it’s that simple. Today, our system of justice has not dishonored her memory by a false conviction.

Perhaps, counselor. Or, perhaps there just was not enough evidence presented by the prosecution to convict your hedonistic client on the murder charge.

After their press conference,  Defense attorneys Jose Baez and Cheney Mason celebrated their client’s not guilty verdict with a champagne toast at Terrace 390, a restaurant on North Orange Ave in Orlando, Florida.

As word of their celebration got out, people gathered in front of the restaurant’s glass doors where scould watch Casey’s attorneys hanging out with about 20 other people inside, including…you guessed it…Geraldo Rivera.

You can throw up now. I did.

Local resident Wanda Tyler put it succinctly:

They shouldn’t be celebrating. A little girl is dead and they helped her killer go free.

Patrick Fowler, of Tampa, hanging out in the local establishment, shouted that Baez should leave the restaurant. He made sure that everyone there knew that he didn’t think justice had been served.

Baez, stopped drinking his beer long enough to look up and smile a few times.

One of guys whom he was drinking with, a tall, slender man wearing a plaid shirt, came close to the door and made a lewd gesture with hand.

A couple of minutes later, Mason moved closer to the door and made a lewd gesture at Fowler.

While I realize that this is the way that our legal system is supposed to work, that thought does nothing to abate my sadness over the senseless murder of a precious child. What fuels my anger over the situation more, is the actions of Casey herself.  In those first 31 days, before she reported the missing Caylee to the police, Casey was out partying with her friends, as if nothing was wrong at all.

We’ve all seen the pictures.

During her drunken debauchery, before she reported Caylee as missing, on July 2, 2008, she gifted herself with a tattoo, which reads:

Bella Vita

This translates as “beautiful life” in Italian.

Caylee’s was.  And it was horribly and irrevocably taken from her.

American Influences: Glen Campbell

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment3 Comments

A short while back, I began a series of posts titled American Influences.  These posts are about people, of all walks of life, who have influenced our country and its’ culture through extraordinary talent and/or intelligence.  Or they might have just been at the right place at the right time.

No American has accomplished more or proven to be a more versatile and integral part of our country’s music industry than Glen Campbell.

He was born Glen Travis Campbell on April 22, 1936, on his family’s farm in Billstown, Arkansas. Campbell was one of 12 children, the son of Wesley, a sharecropper, and Carrie Dell,. The impoverished family all worked, picking cotton, when they weren’t picking musical instruments.

When he turned four, his father bought Glen a $5 Sears and Roebuck guitar and within a few years, Campbell was appearing as a paid act and performing guest spots on local radio stations.

At the age of 16, Campbell dropped out of high school and left to seek his fame and fortune out West, where he played with bands in Wyoming’s bars and roadhouses.

In 1961 at the age of 24, Campbell relocated to Los Angeles. Taking a job at the American Music Company, a small publishing house that employed a staff of songwriters, Campbell wrote and recorded the single Turn Around, Look at Me. The record had a little success, but, more importantly, it caught the attention of Capitol Records, who signed him to a contract.

Glen quickly became known as a skilled session guitarist and finger-picker and went on to work as a sideman with artists including Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Merle Haggard, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, the Righteous Brothers, and the Monkees. Hot producers Phil Spector and Jimmy Bowen also regularly tapped Campbell for their recordings.

In 1965, after Brian Wilson’s retirement, Campbell was invited to tour with The Beach Boys as a temporary bassist. In 1967, he recorded the song Gentle on My Mind, and his career as a solo artist kicked into high gear. His next single By the time I Get to Phoenix also made the Top 40 and earned a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance. That same year, his song, Gentle, earned the Grammy for Best Country and Western Recording.

Campbell’s career was on fire, as the Country Music Association honored him as the Entertainer of the Year and, in 1968, Campbell released his biggest hits to date:  Wichita Lineman and Galveston.

Then, in 1968, Campbell appeared on The Joey Bishop Show.  The Smothers Brothers saw the program and liked what they saw so much that they gave him with the opportunity to co-host The Summer Smothers Brothers Show. Campbell’s down-to-earth personality and musical skill impressed CBS executives, and thus was born, in 1969, The Glen Campbell Good Time Hour.  The program was a combination of musical acts, comedy segments, and nationally-known guest stars. The show, which was produced by The Smothers Brothers, became a No. 1 hit in the United States and the U.K., making Campbell an international star.

After conquering television, Campbell appeared in movies, playing a memorable role as an ill-fated Texas Ranger opposite John Wayne in 1969’s True Grit. Campbell proved to still have the magic touch in the 70s, as the overwhelming success of two No. 1 singles, Rhinestone Cowboy (1975) and Southern Nights (1977), further cemented Campbell’s status as a crossover success.

Then,in the late 1970s, while dating singer Tanya Tucker, Campbell’s abuse of cocaine and alcohol threatened to destroy his career. The couple’s wild and violent relationship, combined with his poor record sales, kept Campbell on the cover of the gossip magazines.

However, after touring for a few years in the 80s, and breaking up with Tanya, Glen left Los Angeles, successfully overcame his drug habit, and became a born-again Christian.

However, even born-again Christians falter.  Campbell was arrested in Phoenix on drunk driving and hit-and-run charges in November 2003. He crashed into another car at an intersection, and left the scene of the accident. He went on to plead guilty to extreme DUI and leaving the scene of an accident, and was sentenced to 10 days in jail.

Campbell released a tell-all autobiography in 1994 by the appropriate title of Rhinestone Cowboy.  In 2005, Campbell was rightfully inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. After that, he continued to appear at theaters in Branson, Missouri.In 2008 he released an album of cover songs entitled Meet Glen Campbell.

This week, the following story appeared on people.com:

In his new song, “A Better Place,” Glen Campbell sings, “I need the ones I love Lord/More and more each day.”

The lyric is more personal than the world knows: In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Campbell, 75, and his wife, Kim, reveal that the singer has Alzheimer’s disease.

The couple have decided to go public with Glen’s diagnosis because he’s hoping to say farewell with a final slate of live performances this fall – and they want his fans to be aware of the musician’s condition.

“Glen is still an awesome guitar player and singer,” says Kim. “But if he flubs a lyric or gets confused on stage, I wouldn’t want people to think, ‘What’s the matter with him? Is he drunk?’ ”

The Grammy-winner, whose “Rhinestone Cowboy” topped the charts in 1975, had been suffering from short-term memory loss for years, but the Alzheimer’s diagnosis only came six months ago.

“I still love making music,” says Campbell. “And I still love performing for my fans. I’d like to thank them for sticking with me through thick and thin.”

And Glen, don’t worry. We’ll understand. God bless and Godspeed.

Father’s Day 2011

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Entertainment3 Comments

Today, all across the world, Fathers will be honored by their children, natural, adopted, foster, and those that they took in as one of their own. Did you ever wonder how this Global Remembrance got started?

There are two stories which are attributed as being the origin of Father’s Day.

According to the first tale, it all began in 1910, when Sonora Smart-Dodd of Spokane, Washington, tried to figure out a way in which to honor her dad, a remarkable man, who had single handedly raised six children. Sonora, naturally, loved her dad with all her heart, and wanted everyone to recognize him for what he had done for her entire family. She made the decision to declare day of tribute, a Father’s Day, if you will, on her father’s birthday – June 19.

The next year, Sonora contacted the local churches in an attempt to get them to throw their support behind the celebration, but they simply laughed her off. After that setback, it took a while before Sonora’s proposal once again started gaining attention.

A bill in support of a national remembrance of Father’s Day was introduced in 1913. The bill was approved by US President Woodrow Wilson three years later. The bill received further support from President Calvin Coolidge in 1924.

This brought about the formation of a National Father’s Day Committee in New York within the next two years. However, our Federal Government, not exactly being strong in the pursuit alacrity, took another 30 years before a Joint Resolution of Congress officially recognized Father’s Day. Then, implementation of the bill was postponed another 16 years until President Richard Nixon declared third Sunday of June as Father’s Day in 1972.

The second story of the origin of Father’s Day involves Dr. Robert Webb of West Virginia. According to this version, the first Father’s Day service was conducted by Webb at the Central Church of Fairmont in 1908.

Around my house, we always thought that Hallmark and Walmart invented it.

Just for fun (and in an attempt to actually gain a readership) Newsweek/The  Daily Beast published an article listing the 5 best cities for Dads.  What was their criteria?

To compile the rankings, we started with the 100 biggest cities, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. We then looked five factors, equally weighted, to tell us about the quality of life for resident fathers, using the most recent available data:

Dads-per-capita: The percentage of fathers in each city with one or more children under 18 years old, according to the Census.

Educational quality: The overall caliber of public schools in each city based on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best. Scores are from Great Schools, which ranks schools based on standardized test performance.

Quality time with kids: Sure there are lots of things Dad can do with the kids, but we decided to look at a ubiquitous American classic, played in big cities and small towns across the country: little league (specifically, the number of little leagues-per-dad), with data from Citysearch.

Cardiologists: Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of men age 25-54, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For Dad’s health, we decided to look at the number of cardiologists-per-dad, with data from HealthGrades. HealthGrades doctors must be affiliated with a high-quality hospital, free of state sanctions, disciplinary actions, malpractice judgments, and monetary settlements in the last five years, and be board certified in his/her practice specialty.

Father’s Day fun: Again, we used Citysearch to find the number of public golf courses and sports bars-per-dad in each city.

No. 5 Tampa, Florida

Dads-per-capita rank (among 100 largest cities): 57

Little leagues-per-Dad rank: 2

Cardiologists-per-Dad rank: 33

Father’s Day fun day rank: 18

School quality (1-10 scale): 6

No. 4 Orlando, Florida

Dads-per-capita rank (among 100 largest cities): 73

Little leagues-per-Dad rank: 5

Cardiologists-per-Dad rank: 22

Father’s Day fun day rank: 1

School quality (1-10 scale): 6

No. 3 Gilbert, Arizona

Dads-per-capita rank (among 100 largest cities): 8

Little leagues-per-Dad rank: 64

Cardiologists-per-Dad rank: 31

Father’s Day fun day rank: 20

School quality (1-10 scale): 9

No. 2 Scottsdale, Arizona

Dads-per-capita rank (among 100 largest cities): 4

Little leagues-per-Dad rank: 83

Cardiologists-per-Dad rank: 24

Father’s Day fun day rank: 4

School quality (1-10 scale): 9

No. 1 Irvine, Calif.

Dads-per-capita rank (among 100 largest cities): 7

Little leagues-per-Dad rank: 49

Cardiologists-per-Dad rank: 18

Father’s Day fun day rank: 28

School quality (1-10 scale): 10

Funny how no Southern Conservative cities made the Liberal website’s list.  But, I digress…

Right now, in America, it is harder than ever to be a Dad.  Any male, who is not impotent, can sire a child…as is being proven daily across our country.

However, it takes a man to be a Daddy, a Papa, a Pop, a Pops, somebody’s Old Man, or, simply, Dad.

I’ve had to privilege of having a hand in raising three step-sons, one nephew, and one very special daughter.  I would not give back one moment of those experiences for anything that this world can offer.

I was not a perfect role model.  I made mistakes.  But, looking back, I know, in my heart, that I’ve made a difference in their lives. And I thank the One who made me for that opportunity.

Happy Father’s Day!

Of Obama and Superman

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, Politics4 Comments

I love my country. I make no bones about it. I was born American by God’s grace.

However, there are a bunch of idiots out there who do not feel that way. They take the privilege of being born in the greatest country on Earth as a liability, not a blessing.

For example, the Liberal pinheads who are currently publishing the adventures of an American Icon, who has always stood for truth, justice, and the American Way.

That’s right. These snotty-nosed punks are having the Man of Steel renounce his American citizenship.

This unpatriotic bone-headed move takes place in “The Incident,” a short story in Action Comics #900 written by David S. Goyer with art by Miguel Sepulveda. In it, Superman meets with the President’s national security advisor, who is hot about the fact that  Superman appeared in Tehran to non-violently support the protesters demonstrating against the Iranian regime, no doubt an analogue for the recent real-life protests in the Middle East.

What in the world?

…Since Superman is viewed as an American icon in the DC Universe as well as our own, the Iranian government has construed his actions as the will of the American President, and indeed, an act of war.

Superman replies that it was foolish to think that his actions would not reflect politically on the American government, and that he therefore plans to renounce his American citizenship at the United Nations the next day — and to continue working as a superhero from a more global than national perspective. From a “realistic” standpoint it makes sense; it would indeed be impossible for a nigh-omnipotent being ideologically aligned with America to intercede against injustice beyond American borders without creating enormous political fallout for the U.S. government.

What in the name of Krypto the Superdog is going on here?

It’s bad enough that we have to live with the Liberals’ intentional distruction of our American Way of Life, but do they have to corrupt our comic book icons as well?

What next…is Batman going to come out of the closet and change his cape and cowl to pink?

The next thing you’re going to tell me is that the President of the United States doesn’t like our country.

Oh, wait…

On americanthinker.com, in an excellent article posted on 11/1/2009, a writer named bookworm posted the following list of Obama’s anti-liberty goals:

  • He wants to deny individuals access to the marketplace –where they can make their own decisions about their own health care — and instead put the government entirely in charge.   [Since this list was published, Obamacare got passed.]
  • He’s willing to give government control over American businesses (e.g., the bank takeovers and Government Motors).
  • His administration, while on record as opposing the Fairness Doctrine, is aggressively exploring a backdoor regulatory scheme that would have precisely the same practical effect as the Fairness Doctrine: it would impose government restrictions on content, rather than allowing the market (that means us, the consumers) to control content.
  • His FCC wants to control the internet, a humming beehive of free speech (much of it critical of Obama).
  • As his loud battles with Rush Limbaugh and Fox News illustrate, he desires a single-party press, not a free one.
  • He believes that now that he is in power, the opposition should shut up and “get out of the way,” a notion that runs directly counter to the First Amendment.
  • Although he’s mostly erased the record that once existed in cyberspace, his dream is to create a civilian national security force, subordinate to the administration, which would be larger than the American military. The military, please note, is controlled by the Constitution and has traditionally existed separate from, but subordinate to, the rest of the American government.
  • He wants to take away the right to bear arms. He’ll pay lip service to supporting the Second Amendment, but his fundamental goal is to use government to remove arms from individuals.
  • In a stunning blow to the freedom of born alive infants, he is one of a handful of politicians nationwide who believes it is appropriate to leave such infants to die alone and untended. With few exceptions, even those whose politics are entirely colored by a pro-choice viewpoint couldn’t swallow this approach.
  • Without money, people have no choices. The more money the government siphons to itself, the fewer choices we as individuals have. Although he dresses it as fairness (it’s “fair” for the “lucky” to pay substantially more), Obama believes that it’s government’s role to “spread the wealth.” That may be “fair,” but it’s not consistent with liberty, hard work, and individual choices.

And, just yesterday, the Obama Administration  exiled the San Francisco Chronicle’s Carla Marinucci from being a part of the press pool again.

Her horrendous crime? 

She pulled out a small video camera last week and shot some protesters interrupting an Obama fundraiser at the St. Regis Hotel.

Censorship of the press.  My…how Marxist.

Why is it that those who claim to be the most tolerant of anybody in this nation, are actually the least?

And the very country that permits them to practice their misguided ideology is the very nation that they hold in such great disdain?

The State of American Culture, Easter Weekend 2011

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Entertainment4 Comments

Have you seen it yet? I’m talking about the video from that Baltimore McDonalds that shows two black women, one of them a 14-year-old girl, beating the snot (Southern expression) out of a young white woman, kicking and punching the 22-year-old victim in the head.

An employee and patron of Rosedale restaurant try to stop it, while other jackwagons in Mickey D’s can be heard laughing, and poor excuses for men can be seen standing by, like they’re watching a professional wrestling match.

At the end of the beat-down, one of the beaters lands a punishing blow to the beatee’s head, and she appears to have a seizure. You then hear a male (I’m not going to call this individual a MAN) voice telling the women to run because police are coming.

The video, which runs 3 minutes, was first posted on YouTube, then removed by administrators who said it violated the site’s policies. Then it was seen on other sites and finally showed up on drudgereport.com, which made it the headline story for most of the day.   Here it is.

By nightfall, the video had received more than 500,000 views on one site alone.

According to county police, the savage attack happened on April 18 in the 6300 block of Kenwood Ave. The reported that the 14-year-old girl has been charged as a juvenile, while charges were pending against an 18-year-old woman.

Per Equality Maryland, the victim is a transgender woman. They have called on state Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler to step in and investigate the case as a hate crime.  Police and prosecutors are unsure about whether the victim is a transgender woman or not.

The victim wound up with cuts to her mouth and face. A police report said she had been taken to Franklin Square Hospital Center in fair condition. Police reported Friday that they had no update on her status.

Has America become a just another barbaric country? Have we, as a nation, achieved the goal, so often stated by President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm), and replaced the Reaganesque image of A Shining City on a Hill with that of a Third World Barrio?

If we have, our celebrities have led the way.

For example, former Disney Darling Lindsay Lohan continued her downward spiral into the fiery abyss yesterday as Judge Stephanie Sautner sentenced her to 120 days in jail for violating her probation.

The former child star has also been ordered to complete 480 hours of community service. 360 of those hours must be performed at the Downtown Women’s Center, so the pampered celebrity can experience the plight of women in need. The remaining 120 hours will be served at the L.A. County morgue, so that she might have a clue as to where she is headed.

The ig’nant (another Southern expression) young woman stole a $2,500 necklace. The bimbo, err, young lady, err, Lohan waited several weeks, and then returned the necklace, only after finding out the police were about to raid her house. Judge Sautner, while handing down her ruling, explained that Lohan should have called the store and notified the owners about the necklace sooner.

Sautner was very intrigued by the surveillance video, watching it for the first time in court yesterday. The Judge agreed with Deputy District Attorney Danette Meyers, who presented the argument that Lindsay used her friend Patrick as a decoy to distract the clerk.

Speaking of celebrities presently in a rapid descent into the fiery abyss…

D.C. police are investigating why actor Charlie Sheen received a police escort from an area airport to his show in downtown Washington this week.

Police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump said late Thursday that the police department’s internal affairs unit is investigating the incident.

On Tuesday, D.C. police used lights and sirens as they escorted the former “Two and a Half Men” star from Dulles International Airport to his stage show, “Violent Torpedo of Truth: Defeat Is Not an Option.” At the time, Sheen was running nearly an hour late for the show.

Sheen tweeted about the ride and included a picture of a speedometer reaching about 80 mph.

Councilman Phil Mendleson says he met with D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier on Thursday. He says Lanier did not authorize the escort.

Are we,  as Americans, the enablers of our own destruction?  The family dinner table is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.  Wholesome Family Sitcoms seemed to have vanished after The Cosby Show, Family Ties, and Home Improvement.

Some people believe that Obama was right, when he said:

I don’t.  I stand with  John Adams, our 2nd United States President (1735-1826), who served from 1797-1801, and proclaimed that:

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

I also, this Easter Weekend, stand with the 75% of Americans, who proclaim their faith in God, like this great bunch, appearing in this wildly popular viral video from 2nd Baptist Church. 

May God bless America…again.

Elvis, Bad Dog, and Larry

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Entertainment1 Comment

What is it about a person that makes him/her popular?  Is it money?  No, that comes and goes.  Is is talent?  Well, that may be a part of it.  But, in the Mid-South alone, there are a lot of extremely talented unknowns.  Last night, as I was tossing and turning, I asked myself, what was it about Elvis Presley, John “Bad Dog McCormack”, and Larry Finch that made them so beloved by their hometown of Memphis, Tennessee and beyond?

As always, now that I’m older and, hopefully wiser, I returned to the place where I know that I can find the answer:

1 Corinthians 13:

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Have you ever been around someone who lights up a room the moment they enter?  My Daddy (Southern colloquialism for male parental unit) was like that.  So were these extraordinary men.

I had the privilege of attending one of Elvis’ Concerts , seated in the top row of the Mid-South Coliseum with my late step-sister in the early 70s.  Elvis was wearing one of his blue jumpsuits.  Even from the 35th row, I was touched by the genuine love that he had for his fans and the ease by which he communicated with them.  At one point in the concert, Elvis said:

Since I’m home, and y’all are all home folk, I’m gonna try a new song out on ya.

He proceeded to grab some sheet music and sang from it, without missing a beat.  Here’s an example of Elvis’ talent:

I had the privilege of talking to Bad Dog McCormack in the late 80s, while I was working at Memphis Cablevision.  He, Tim Spencer, and Bev Hart were there, taping commercials for a promotion that their radio station, Rock 103, was running with Coca-Cola.  The spots were called Coke Breaks.  He was such a naturally nice guy.  After that, I listened to the Wake-up Crew every morning, until Clear Channel broke them up when they bought the station.  After that, I listed to Bad Dog until he passed away from leukemia last month.  Here is a message that he recorded right before he worked his last Ronald McDonald House Radiothon for the kids of St. Jude Hospital.  He found out that he was out of remission, right before the Radiothon, but he refused to miss it, telling everyone that he had to do it for the kids.

And, of course, there was Larry Finch, who bridged a racially divided city like no one else has since.  Here are highlights from the Tiger’s 1973 loss in the NCAA Basketball Championship to UCLA.

Memphis was once known as The City of Good Abode.  It can be again. However, it will take singular men like these.  And love.

My Friend, Coach Larry O. Finch 1951 – 2011

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Entertainment4 Comments

Everyone who knows me will tell you that I bleed University of Memphis Tiger Blue.  There’s a reason for that.

The year is 1972.  A skinny, undersized asthmatic kid, new to Wooddale Junior High, is about to be annihilated in a game called Bombardment, a rather sadistic game thought up by the 9th grade P.E. coach for his personal amusement.  Resembling the movie “Dodgeball” on steroids,  two teams (usually the delinquents on one side and their victims on the other), would line up against both sides of the bleachers waiting for the coach’s whistle.  Then the massacre would ensue.

Sure that I was about to breathe my last, I felt a hand on my shoulder, and a kind voice telling me to stand beside him.  I looked up to see the smiling face of Larry Finch, Senior shooting guard on the Memphis State University Tigers Basketball Team.  He had just taken an Internship at my school!

Of course, that was the year that they lost the NCAA Championship to Bill Walton and the UCLA Bruins.  I don’t think that anyone in the nation hollered at their television set louder that night than I did.

Over the semester, we became friends.  I became a Tiger fan for life, eventually receiving my degree there  in 1980 in Radio, TV, and Film.  While there, I had the privilege of calling radio play-by-play for the Women’s Basketball and Men’s Baseball teams.

Larry is also the reason that I went on to play and coach basketball, a 4th grade team and a church team, respectively.  My coaching record is 25 – 4.

But, I digress…

Anyway, I’m writing this story because my friend, the Memphis Legend, Coach Larry O. Finch, has passed away at the age of 60.

From the Commercial Appeal:

Finch, the University of Memphis’ winningest basketball coach with 220 victories, had been in poor health since suffering the first of multiple strokes in 2001. He was 60. He had also had a heart attack.

Finch is perhaps the most beloved figure in the history of Memphis’ basketball program, leading the 1973 team to the national championship game and coaching the Tigers from 1986 to 1997.

Larry was born in the Orange Mound section of Memphis and went on to play for Melrose High School.  He and his fellow high school teammate, 6’9″  “Big Cat” Ronnie  Robinson, decided to play for Coach Gene Bartow at Memphis State University.

This was during the height of racial unrest in Memphis.  Larry had been advised not to go to Memphis State, but he loved his hometown and his hometown university.  He and Ronnie turned out to be 2 of the finest bridge builders Memphis has ever seen.  He graduated as the all-time leading scorer in school history and is presently still in second place on that list.

Larry went on to play professionally with the Memphis TAMs, the Memphis Sounds, the Baltimore Hustlers, and the Baltimore Claws.

Per biographicon.com:

In the 1980s, Finch was an assistant coach for Dana Kirk at Memphis State. Kirk was forced to leave Memphis State after violating NCAA regulations, and Finch was made head coach in 1986 in order to restore order to the program. Finch was head coach from 1986 until 1997.

Finch’s tenure at Memphis State/University of Memphis was successful. He posted 10 out of 11 winning seasons, and seven 20+ win seasons. He recruited and developed such players as Elliot Perry, Penny Hardaway, and Lorenzen Wright. His 1991-92 team led by Hardaway and David Vaughn went to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.

As a player, Finch was known for his shooting prowess, and his skills remained intact throughout his coaching days; he would routinely win games of H-O-R-S-E against his players (including the great Keith Lee, among others) and against assistant coaches in long distance shooting contests after road game practices.

In the company of such renowned coaches as Gene Bartow and John Calipari, Larry Finch remains in second-place for all-time wins in University of Memphis history (behind only Calipari).

In 2002, Larry suffered a stroke, which left him paralyzed and affected his speech.  Later that year, at halftime of the Memphis Grizzlies’ annual Martin Luther King Day game, NBA Legend Bill Russell grabbed the handles of Larry Finch’s wheelchair and wheeled him across a spotlight-lit basketball court.

The entire arena cheered and cried at the same time.

And now, this Memphis Legend is gone.

You’re probably thinking to yourself, how can you consider yourself a friend of Larry Finch?  You only knew him for a short time.

In the early 80s, while Larry was an Assistant Coach under Dana Kirk, I was working at Memphis Cablevision.  I was passing through a front office packed with customers, there to pay their bill.  All of the sudden, I heard a familiar voice shouting my last name at the top of his lungs.  It was Coach Finch!

He grinned that big ol’ grin at me, and hugged me until I thought my ribs would bust.  Then he asked me how I was doing, eager to hear about my life, and we talked as if there was no one else in that lobby.

And now, almost 30 years later, I’m sitting here, trying to write this post with tears in my eyes.

That’s how I know.

Requiem for a Bad Dog: John McCormack 1955-2011

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Entertainment5 Comments

If, when we’re standing before God, the amount of good we do with our lives, and the amount of joy and happiness that we are able to bring to this world of pain is brought up, then, Thursday afternoon, the Pearly Gates shook with the infectious laughter of one giant of a man.

John “Bad Dog” McCormack lost his long battle with AML late Thursday Afternoon at Methodist University Hospital in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.  Bad Dog was an on-air personality for 22 years at WEGR Rock 103, a Classic Rock Station.

Bad Dog began as a part of the Wake-up Crew with Tim Spencer and Bev Hart.  Dog was basically a 14-year-old kid in a man’s body.  He was a natural-born prankster, and became known for his creation of “The Twilight Phone”, an anonymous prank call he would make to unsuspecting citizens. 

In one memorable call, he impersonated an Apartment Manager, calling a guy who dumped his fiance’s dead pet Piranhas into the apartment lake, claiming that they came back to life and the poor sap had to reimburse the apartment $2,8000 for draining and restocking the lake.  And then, there was Bad Dog”s possibly most famous call, where he talked to an older gentleman named Mr. Lannum, impersonating a collector attempting to collect on a  past-due cable bill.  Mr. Lannum went ballistic, cussing a blue streak that is still talked of in hushed tones to this day, 20 tears later:

When he finally clued the individuals in to whom they had been talking to, each one of them eventually forgave him, because, after all, it was Bad Dog.

Another routine that Bad Dog came up with, was remarkable.  In a city known for racial polarization, he came up with the idea of numbering their show’s Black listeners, thinking that actual black listeners would be few and far between.  Well, Bad Dog received a big surprise.

The routine became very popular among Memphis’  Black Community, as people called in to talk to Bad Dog.  He would make up a hilarious “oath” for the listener to say, and from then on, whenever this individual would call in to talk about the subject of the day, they would self-identify as Black Listener Number So-and-So.  Everyone loved Bad Dog.

However, the most incredible thing that this man accomplished during his time with us started when he, Spencer, and Hart decided to begin a yearly Radiothon in support of St. Jude Hospital’s Ronald McDonald House.

Over the last 20 years, Bad Dog and his co-workers have raised over $7 million dollars to help build and maintain the refuge for cancer-stricken kids and their families, so they could have some semblance of normal life while they undergo treatment at St. Jude. 

Bad Dog McCormack was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in late October 2009.  He was still working mornings, though his new partner was Ric Chetter.  Clear Channel Communications, in their infinite wisdom, had split up the popular Wake Up Crew in November of 2006, firing Newsperson Bev Hart, and, eventually moving Rock 103 Program Director Tim Spencer to Mid-days.

Bad Dog continued to work as he underwent treatment, as he felt that this was the best medicine for him and what God had called him to do.  His courage in the face of his own mortality was an inspiration to the entire Mid-South, as his barrel-house laugh continued to reverberate through the car speakers of the Mid-South every morning.  He also continued to work the annual Rock103 Radiothon, letting nothing stand in his way of helping the kids.

Bad Dog underwent a bone marrow transplant in November of 2010.  He seemed to be doing better, and, in December, an online poll of Memphians voted him The Most Noteworthy Memphian of the Year.

On February 10-11th, Bad Dog was at the mic, around the clock, for the 20th Annual Rock103 Radiothon.  When it was over, he announced that more Leukemia had been found.  He remained upbeat, and said that this was just par for the course.

Meanwhile, Clear Channel Communications, again in its infinite wisdom, fired Ric Chetter, and moved Bad Dog and Tim Spencer to afternoons, while bringing in a morning show named Free Beer and Hot Wings, 5 guys syndicated out of the Great White North, whose humor about hockey games is about as relevant to the Mid-South as hunting moose.

Bad Dog took this change in his usual good-natured stride, happy to be back with his old partner-in-crime, Tim.

Then, last Thursday, Bad Dog took a turn for the worse.  He was rushed to Methodist University Hospital in Downtown Memphis, where he passed away from an aneurysm, brought about by his Leukemia.

In an interview with the Commercial Appeal, Bad Dog made this comment about his battle against Leukemia and his love for the kids at St. Jude:

When I see what they are going through, I have no reason to complain. They are so young and have so much pain. I’ve lived a blessed life. If I died tomorrow, I’d go with a smile on my face.

He also, in his usual big-hearted, gentle way, left a statement to be released after his death:

I have gone to be with God and he is holding me tightly and I am surrounded by many of the Ronald McDonald’s House kids. Do not say you have lost a friend… One is only lost when you don’t know where they are… you know where I am. I thank each and every one of you for your support and prayers. I love all of you and that will never go away. When you are having a bad day… think of my laugh or a Twilight phone or the time we met. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow, make every day great, be the spiritual leader of your family. May peace be with you. Your friend, Bad Dog.

John”Bad Dog” McCormack, 55,  leaves behind his two sons, Buck and Tucker, a huge family, and thousands of fans.

As one of those fans, please allow me to say thank you, Bad Dog, for brightening up a lot of dreary mornings. 

A sign currently on display outside  a local jewelry store says it all:

BAD DOG MADE MEMPHIS A BETTER PLACE.

Of Sheen and Schools

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, Politics3 Comments

The national train wreck known as Charlie Sheen came to a major split in the tracks yesterday as Warner Bros. Television told the press that the addict’s services on “Two and a Half Men” had been terminated, effective immediately, following “careful consideration.”

Warner Brothers has not yet decided on what they are going to do about the future of the top-rated comedy which stopped production for the season in order for Sheen to seek treatment for his admitted drug use.

Sheen’s addictions have cost him a hit television program and a job that paid a reported $1.8 million an episode, earning him over $43 million a year.

Liberal pundits and other enablers were quick to rush to his aid.

According to Paul Levinson, a Fordham University media professor:

At this point, all bets are off regarding where his career goes from here. Although nothing is certain where fame and celerity are concerned, Sheen’s ubiquity in the past few weeks suggest that he could indeed go on to become a bigger superstar than (the sitcom) could ever had made him.

Yeah, and he could die within the next year from his “problem”, if he continues on the path he’s chosen to take.

The problem is, self-centered people, like Charlie Sheen, the son of noted actor and raging Liberal activist Martin Sheen, want what they want and to heck with whomever they may hurt in the process.

Take the case of the Memphis City School Board, for example.

Today, in Memphis, Tennessee, voters are going to the polls to decide whether the formerly nationally recognized Memphis City Schools system should surrender its charter, forcing a merger with the academically superior and financially sound Shelby County Schools System.

After city and country citizens voted overwhelmingly against consolidation of services last November, the Memphis City Schools’ Board of Education voted last December to surrender its charter, in an attempt to shirk their responsibility for the financial and academic failure of their school system. By forcing the more successful Shelby County system, which includes public schools outside the city limits, to do their job for them, they bypass the wishes of Shelby County Voters.

Only voters within the Memphis City limits will go to the polls today. County voters are excluded.

According to those pushing the merger, this action must be taken, in order to stop Shelby County from seeking school special district status, thereby drawing a boundary around the county system and at the same time, taking a cut out of tax money that currently goes to the Memphis City Schools, to spend as they will.

Those against this unwanted action argue that the spur-of-the-movement, unplanned merger could stretch resources to the point that people will lose their jobs.

The Libs, both locally and nationally, have been very quick to label this a racial issue.  It’s not.  It’s green.

Per yahoo.com, the 2010-2011 budget for Memphis City Schools is about $890 million to cover 103,000 students, 85 percent of whom are black. For the 47,000-student Shelby County system, which is 38 percent black, it’s more than $363 million.

The other problem with the Libs’ racial argument is the fact that African-American ministers, including noted activist Rev. LaSimba (formerly Leo) Gray, have lined up with Shelby County officials, demanding to know where’s the proof that a combined system would be good for anyone.

Gray told a debate audience that athletics were his ticket out of the ‘hood. He wondered how poor children could be expected to play in a system where parents would be expected to pay for football uniforms as they do in the county schools.

Many got out of the community with athletic scholarships. Those are the activities we are talking about leaving on the table.

And what happens regarding the administration of this county-wide school system?  Will there be a 30 member school board?  Will the hacks that ran the city schools into the ground be swept back into power?

One thing’s for sure:  The Realtors in the counties surrounding Shelby County, Tennessee are all rubbing their hands together with glee.

The Sheen and School situations both have something in common:  Both have come about as a result of Liberals not accepting responsibility for their actions and their effect on those around them.

Just as Charlie Sheen’s addictions, caused by a lack of personal responsibility, have cost the cast and crew of Two One and a Half Men wages and, possibly their jobs, the poor stewardship of those in charge of the Memphis City Schools system, who are now trying to force this unplanned merger, will cause consequences felt by both the adults that are employed in the system and the children who are seeking an education.

After all, take it from Charlie Sheen:  Why hold yourself responsible when you can blame somebody else?

A Note From KJ: Here is Part 2 of a 4 part series I wrote about President Barack Hussein Obama, tracing his life from his birth to his nomination as Democratic Candidate for President.  I hope you enjoy it:

https://kingsjester.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/the-great-disconnect-part-2-columbia-community-organizing-and-hahvahd/

Charlie Sheen, The Argument Against the New Libertarianism?

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment5 Comments

For a while now, Reagan Conservatives have had to listen to Liberals, so-called Fiscal Conservatives, and those who identify themselves as Libertarians chide us about our supposed close-minded ignorance concerning excessive drinking, pot smoking, and recreational use of other illegal substances and their harmful effect on not only the user, but on those around him.  

The latest in a number of recent Hollywood celebrity implosions just blew the harmless argument completely out of the water.

The walking/talking train wreck known as Charlie Sheen made national headlines yesterday as he launched another drug-addled attack against the hand that feeds him, his bosses at CBS Television and Warner Brothers.

The reason? His bosses decided that they had put up with enough of his garbage and cancelled production of the season of his hit comedy Two and a Half Men.

Sheen, who is physically somewhere in the Bahamas and mentally in a galaxy far, far away, called into the radio show Loose Cannons and had a temper tantrum concerning his treatment by his bosses. He called them “clowns” – for

…getting up in my grill, telling me how to live my personal life. 

I kept saying back off, back off – and they wouldn’t. I kept asking for that respect and I couldn’t get it.

These guys (producers Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn) are just a couple AA Nazis and really just blunt hypocrites.

According to Sheen, his relationship with CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves is over. Sheen said Moonves visited him at home and asked him to seek treatment:

He rolled into my house and he made a man-to-man request, and I honored it. And I asked for a couple of things, and he’s not honoring that. We’re pretty much done … unless he’s got a really good excuse for a guy who lives in the middle of the truth.

The self-destructive Sheen said that the show set

…has been a toxic environment for eight years. I felt like an unwelcome relative, being given cold coffee at 9 o’ clock every night. I just got tired of it, of people not knowing the truth.

The child-like Sheen said if season nine happens, he would do it

…but not with the turds who are currently in place. It’s impossible. Can you imagine gong back into the sludge-pit with those knuckleheads at this point? It would go bad quickly.

When asked if he had any message for the television show’s crew, Sheen replied:

I say, be patient, yet focused. We are at war and there are ways to deal with these clowns and take all their money.

Defeat is not an option. They picked a fight with the wrong guy… they are in absolute breach. I expressed an opinion and I got the First Amendment behind me….

I put $5 bill in the studio’s pocket, I put half-a-bill in Chuck’s pocket, and this is the thanks I get?

According to the addict, he also claimed he was talking to HBO about doing a show. He said the show would be

…something beyond this drivel, this pukefest that everyone worships. I’m like, ‘Wow, that was another bad joke.’

HBO denies this, but remember, they hired Bill Maher.

In conclusion, Sheen told his supporters (both of them) to

…find the most comfortable furniture in the house, sit in it, open a beer and watch the show because it’s about to get really gnarly.

About to?  Have you looked in the mirror lately, Charlie?

 Sheen was raised as a spoiled Hollywood brat by his dad, Martin Sheen, a brilliant actor, but a raging left-wing activist, who spit on American soldiers during anti-war protests.

Martin Sheen recently made a ludicrous comparison to Sky News, saying:

He’s an extraordinary man. You know, if he had cancer, how would we treat him? The disease of addiction is a form of cancer and you have to have an equal measure of concern and love and lift them up and so that’s what we do for him.

You realize we’re not all on the same journey all the time. We have to love that much more. We have to be that much more present.

Yes, Martin, being addicted is like having a disease.  Except, I’ve never heard about a Cancer patient driving their car recklessly and killing innocent people because of their disease.

That personal responsibility thing is a pain, isn’t it?