Category: Entertainment

From Laugh Riot Comedy to Trump Hatefest: The Return of “Will and Grace”. They Should Have Left Us Laughing.

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, PoliticsLeave a comment

W_71814

Will and Grace, was a “groundbreaking” (according to Hollywood Liberals) sitcom which aired on NBC from 1998-2006.

The series centered around Will, a gay lawyer and Grace, a straight interior designer. They both lived in New York. Grace was engaged to a absolute jerk,. When they broke up, she moves in with Will, who happens to be her best friend. It was only supposed to be until Grace found herself a place of her own, but she and Will wound up with each other as permanent roommates. Also featured in the ensemble were Jack, Will’s flamboyant gay friend and Karen, Grace’s secretary/assistant who didn’t really need to work because she married money several times.

As seems to be the pattern nowadays, due to a lack of good writers out in Hollyweird, “Will and Grace” has returned to NBC’s Thursday Night Lineup.

Judging from the first episode, they should have stayed gone.

FoxNews.com reports that

The premiere episode of NBC’s reincarnated “Will & Grace” was essentially a 30-minute anti-Trump infomercial on Thursday night and conservatives have taken notice.

The first episode of “Will & Grace” in 11 years referred to First Lady Melania Trump as a “hostage,” portrayed Midwesterners as people who didn’t eat vegetables until Michelle Obama  came along and featured Debra Messing’s character, Grace, complaining about the results of last year’s presidential election.

Grace has somehow landed a job redecorating the Oval Office because Trump “has been pouting that his office is a real dump.”

After a subtle jab that Melania wouldn’t hire anyone for the job who is pretty enough to attract the president, Grace and her assistant headed to the White House, where the show mocked Kellyanne Conway’s infamous couch photo and President Ronald Reagan’s Alzheimer’s disease.

Grace is told Trump wants his the Oval Office “to look like he’s there from time to time,” another obvious shot.

People magazine even published a list of all the times the show ripped Trump.

The premiere episode did well in the ratings department, with 10.2 million viewers tuning in, making it the most-watched scripted show on television Thursday night. The Wrap’s Senior TV Reporter Tony Maglio believes future ratings could depend on viewers who side with the show politically.

“Post-premiere, ‘Will & Grace’ ratings should come back down to Earth, and will soon settle into a pretty predictable range. The return was an event [that] had the nostalgia factor going for it, plenty of promotion and generally favorable reviews,” Maglio told Fox News. ”The show does have a few things working against it though: The younger half of the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic don’t know or care at all about these characters, and a series that takes such a political stance is, by its very nature, divisive.”

Fox News’ Senior Vice President of Marketing and entertainment contributor Michael Tammero was “very excited” for the return of “Will & Grace” but didn’t stick with the episode for the entire 30 minutes.

“It was a very important show, as someone who is gay and married… it was a show that initially played a huge role in changing hearts and minds in this country and advancing LGBTQ issues,” Tammero said. “I expected some anti-Republican, anti-Trump lines, but I did not expect every single line to be some sort of jab.”

Tammero said the show “is on broadcast for a reason, ‘broad’ being they key word,” as networks typically try to to reach the largest possible audience. He can’t predict if the show’s political views will hurt viewership.

“I think it could… I think it will probably hurt the show,” he said. “In Hollywood, we’re seeing a lot of people center-right are turning off and tuning out.”

Conservatives viewers took to Twitter to react, with many noting that they wouldn’t tune in again because they were offended by the show’s politics. One viewer asked, “Why alienate a large part of America?”

Another viewer tweeted that “Will & Grace” used to be a good show but is now simply a “tool for hate,” and dubbed it “Will & Disgrace.”

The Media Research Center’s TV reporter Amelia Hamilton blasted the episode, calling the storyline “a lazy way to take shots at the president for the entire length of the show” and said it was embarrassing.

“Hollywood still hasn’t realized that shows like this do nothing but help Donald Trump,” Hamilton wrote. “When will Hollywood learn that they’re basically running his reelection campaign by doing this?”

Ironically, “Will & Grace” creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick told The Hollywood Reporter they only agreed to a reunion because former NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker isn’t involved anymore, since he is now the president of the liberal network CNN Worldwide.

“Zucker was the only reason we had a problem at NBC,” Mutchnick said. 

More than likely, Zucker was the reason that you never saw 30-minute hatefests during the series’ original run, like the before-mentioned episode.

Those in power in Hollywood, like the rest of Liberal America’s “Smartest People in the Room”, seem to be under the misguided notion that the majority of Americans think precisely like them, meaning that we all are as dedicated to hating the 45th President of the United States of America as Captain Queeq (Humphrey Bogart in “The Caine Mutiny”) was in his search for the missing strawberries.

I don’t know if their unrequited anguish over the events of November 8, 2016 has eroded their memories, or just plain sent them over the edge of sanity. However, they seem to remain oblivious of the fact that 30 states voted for Donald J. Trump on that fateful night.

During the original run of “Will and Grace”, average Americans watched the program because it was funny, plain and simple. They overlooked the less than stellar living arrangement of the title couple for that very reason.

While Liberals viewed the series as groundbreaking because of the “mainstreaming” of homosexuality, average Americans tuned in because the characters were a “hoot”.

I am sure that Jeff Zucker recognized that and probably fought behind the scenes to keep the show politically neutral in order to maximize the potential viewing audience.

The producers, it now appears, could care less about what the viewers want. Like the oblivious NFL Players, the producers of “Will and Grace” have decided to use their entertainment platform as a political launching pad for diatribes against the American President and those of us who voted for him.

While, like Hillary Clinton herself, vitriol and insults hurled incessantly at the President for 30 minutes may enthrall the “culturally hip” audiences on the East and Left Coasts, here in the Heartland, a television program so weak that it relies on 30 minutes of that to “entertain” their audience will have Americans turned off faster than Rosie O’Donnell in a thong bikini.

This current revival of “Will and Grace” has only been scheduled for 10 episodes.

That’s a wise move. However, judging from the premiere episode the new “Will and Grace” may not even last 2.

And, that would be a blessing.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Americans Show Hollywood Liberal Elite What They Think of Them: Summer Movie Attendance at 25-Year Low

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, PoliticsLeave a comment

1502390226-summer-2017-movies

…”I always thought I was a liberal but I came up terribly surprised when I found I was a right wing conservative extremist…I have always listened to every human being I’ve ever met about how I should feel.  But this so-called new liberal group… they never listen to your point of view and they make a decision as to what you think and they’re articulate enough and in control of enough of the press to force that image out for the average person.” – John Wayne

According to John Nolte at Breitbart News…

Even before this catastrophic Labor Day weekend is factored in (more on this below), the domestic 2017 box office is in hideous shape. This year is –6.3% behind 2016 and continues to fall behind 2015, 2013, and 2012.

If you figure in inflation, those numbers are even worse. For example, in 2012 the average ticket cost $7.96. Today it is almost a full dollar more at $8.89. Yeah, things are that bad and will look even worse on Tuesday.

With no apparent faith in their own product, this is the first Labor Day in 25 years where a new title has not been released on more than 1,000 screens. Over this weekend last year, the box office hauled in nearly $130 million. This year will do about a third of that.

Summer attendance is at a 25-year low.

The summer box office is down a whopping –16% compared to 2016.

Can a handful of titles — It, Kingsman 2, Bladerunner 2, Thor 3, Justice League, Star Wars 8 — save an entire year? Doubtful. Pull out of a dive? Maybe. Still, we are talking about only six big titles over four months, which is about on par with last year’s Passengers, Rogue One, Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts, Inferno, Sully, and Magnificent Seven.

Hollywood has had bad years before and it was not the end of the world. This year feels different, like we have crossed a Rubicon. Investors appear to agree.

We begin with the fact that some 15 years ago, the movie business stopped being a growth business. While revenues have increased a bit, admissions have remained stagnant. Those revenues were boosted through premium priced gimmicks like 3D and Imax.

One can argue that the worldwide box office has opened up considerably, and while true, entry into that market is an insanely expensive gamble, meaning a CGI’d frachise film, a $250-$350 million entrance fee when you account for production and promotion costs. Moreover, after exhibitors take their cut, a movie has to gross a little more than twice its budget just to break even. So if you spend $250 million and your worldwide gross is $550 million, you are still on the bubble.

China, which accounts for the most international growth of late, takes a whopping 75 cents of every box office dollar, and look at how much international revenue comes from a partner that eats up three-quarters of the pie. Yes, the international box office might be up a tick, but I doubt it’s ahead of inflation.

Anyway, that is just a summary of the lay of the land. Hollywood’s fundamental problems are much deeper and fall into three categories: product, ideas, and customer service.

 
A quality product, like a tasty burger, is the golden goose that keeps laying the golden egg. Great ideas, like iPads and iPhones, are the golden geese that keep laying those golden eggs. Great customer service — well, you get the idea. And Hollywood’s biggest problem right now, it’s most fundamental problem, is…

Product:

Outside of low-budget horror, today’s movie biz is only about insanely expensive franchises, which is fine, if you have enough of them. What happened this year and last, unlike any other years I’m aware of, is the death of a whole bunch of golden geese:

Straight up bombs include Alien, Transformers, Cars, Smurfs, Resident Evil, Underworld, Wimpy Kid, Xander Cage, Nut Job, Independence Day, Ice Age, Ninja Turtles, Divergent, Huntsman, Alice in Wonderland, Inferno (DaVinci Code), and Jack Reacher.

Underperformers include Pirates, Kong/Godzilla, Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, and X-Men.

Add to this an entire genre: the comedy, an area in which Hollywood painted itself into a corner primarily with raunchy titles aimed at teens. Casualties include Baywatch, Snatched, Fist Fight, Rough Night, Ghostbusters, The Boss, Why Him?, Neighbors, Barbershop, Dirty Grandpa, and Zoolander 2.

Dead golden geese. Pillars removed.

But this happens. Customers grow bored. Things wear out. And this is where ideas are supposed to come into play, because ideas breed more golden geese.

Right?

Riiiight…?

Ideas:

The longstanding joke that Hollywood is officially out of ideas is no longer funny. Here is a list of the new ideas, the potential new franchises, that died in the crib: The Mummy, The Emoji Movie, the poorly titled Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, The Dark Tower, Valerian, King Arthur.

I do not know of a single new franchise successfully launched this year, and last year there were only three to four: Deadpool, Suicide Squad, Doctor Strange, and Fantastic Beasts.

A handful of new franchises compared to somewhere around 20 lost and/or were severely wounded.

You do the math.

The thing is, not only has Hollywood run out of ideas, their chosen Political Ideology of Liberalism and their penchant for championing it in their movies has succeeded in driving their customer base away.

The Hollywood “Elite” on the Left of the Political Spectrum who voted for Hillary Clinton to be our next President of the United States of America, continue in public to show their hindquarters, while throwing the longest temper tantrum that the world has ever seen over the results of an American Presidential Election, that happened almost five months ago. These self-proclaimed activists, are making a lie out of the claim that they have made for years that they are the most tolerant…and “gifted” among us.

In fact, these sore losers remind me of the hysterically sobbing children that you hear in every Walmart across the country.

It’s not that those children are crying because they are physically hurt. Just like these Hollywood Liberals, they’re crying because they did not get their way.

This epic meltdown by those who are paid handsomely to entertain us is a direct result of an isolated ignorance of average Americans’ desire to rid ourselves of those in the Halls of Power who told us repeatedly that they knew what was best for us and “who we were”, while their actual mission was to turn America into a Third-World Barrio in their quest to make us a Socialist Paradise.

All during the Presidential Campaign, the Democratic Party, along with those in “Showbiz”, through their minions in the Main Stream Media, assured us that it was a foregone conclusion that Hillary Clinton would be our 45th president.

There is a reason for that.

The Liberal Elite have always believed that our country revolves around the big metropolitan areas in the Northeast and in California. They have always looked down their noses at what they derisively call “Flyover Country”, the same area that many of us call the Heartland of America or simply “home”.

Just like their fellow Modern American Liberals who run Democratic Party, the disconnected “dancing monkeys” in Tinsel Town and the Big Apple, like the mentally deranged Kathy Griffin, who now says that she does not regret staging a photograph of her holding a replica of the severed head of the President of the United States of America, never saw Trump’s victory coming.

At this point, all their incessant national temper tantrum is doing, is making them look like fools, as evidenced by this summer’s box office returns.

As I have written before, I don’t remember any of us average Americans asking them for their opinion as to how we should vote, do you?

Their own haughtiness and super-sized egos have cost the Hollywood Liberal Hierarchy untold millions of dollars by allowing their own preconceived prejudices about average Americans and our “lack of intelligence” to drive a wedge between them and American Moviegoers.

There is an old adage that warns “Do not bite the hand that feeds you.”

Hollywood not only bit the hands of average American Moviegoers in America’s heartland, it gnawed on them for almost a decade.

And now, those smug Liberals in Hollywood are finding out that another old adage is true…

Payback’s a b!tch.

Until He Comes,

KJ

ESPN Switches Asian Football Announcer Over Fears That Americans Will Confuse Him With a Confederate General. (No… Really.)

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, PoliticsLeave a comment

untitled (170)

“Life is tough, but it’s tougher if you’re stupid. ” – John Wayne

Well…as they say at the beginning of a Southern Redneck Fairy Tale instead of “Once Upon a Time”…

Y’all ain’t gonna believe this sh!t.

694940094001_5548709637001_5548702351001-vs

robert-e-lee

Sing along, boys and girls, “One of these things is not like the other…”

From outkickthecoverage.com…

UPDATE: ESPN ISSUES OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON MOVING ROBERT LEE FROM VIRGINIA GAME:

“We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the coincidence of his name. In that moment it felt right to all parties. It’s a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play by play for a football game has become an issue.”

Additionally, I had a conversation with a senior employee at ESPN who wanted to make it clear that this was not a mandate or a demand from the company, that it was a people first decision and that assignments are switched all the time.

In a story that seems made for The Onion, but is actually true, according to multiple Outkick fans inside ESPN MSESPN decided to pull an Asian college football announcer named Robert Lee off the William and Mary at University of Virginia college football game because they were concerned that having an ASIAN FOOTBALL ANNOUNCER NAMED ROBERT LEE would be offensive to some viewers.

Did I mention that Robert Lee is Asian?

Is this even real life anymore? This might even be worse than MSESPN apologizing for the fantasy football slave draft a couple of weeks ago.

To avoid offending left wing idiots Robert Lee, the Asian college football announcer, not the Confederate General who died in 1870 and shares a name with him, was switched to the Youngstown State at Pittsburgh game and Dave Weekley will now call the William and Mary at University of Virginia game.

Unless someone tries to take down Dave Weekley statues between now and kickoff.

In which case ESPN will be royally fucked.

But, seriously, is there anything more pathetic than ESPN believing people would be offended by an Asian guy named Robert Lee sharing a name with Robert E. Lee and calling a football game? Aside from some hysterical photoshops and Internet memes which would make everyone with a functional brain laugh — Robert E. Lee pulling out all the stops to stay in Charlottesville now! — what was the big fear here? Does ESPN really believe people are this dumb or that having an Asian announcer named Robert Lee is too offensive for the average TV viewer to handle?

Yes, yes they do.

I’m sorry you work for such an idiotic company, Robert Lee.

ESPN continues to commit seppuku right before our very eyes.

Evidently, those in charge over at Disney/ABC/ESPN are not aware of the Marist Poll which says that only 27% of Americans agree with the current Fart Left-Driven purge to erase our Nation’s History.

Even though average Americans spoke with a loud and thunderous unified voice and elected Donald J. Trump as our 45th President, Americans are still suffering under the “Tyranny of the Minority” which began during the reign of King Barack The First.

I am aware that political correctness has been around for a good while now.

However, when Barack Hussein Obama became President of the United States, political correctness seemed to become magnified by 100 fold.

For example, you cannot criticize or flat out oppose the removal of Confederate Statues from public places without being called a Bigot or a Raaaciiist.

This seems awfully hypocritical to me, because all of the self-proclaimed Liberal experts on political correctness called President George W Bush everything but a child of God.

At the end of last November, Breitbart.com reported that

The Nielsen estimates revealed that ESPN lost 555,000 subscribers during the last month.

In other words, ESPN essentially lost the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. This, coming on the heels of last month, the worst month in ESPN history, where the network lost 621,000 subscribers. 

In the last two months, ESPN has lost 1,176,000 subscribers, a subscriber loss nearly the size of the city of Dallas, Texas. ESPN currently has just over 88 million domestic subscribers. In 2013, a mere three years ago, ESPN had 99 million subscribers. That’s right, in the last three years, ESPN lost somewhere in the neighborhood of ten million subscribers, the rough equivalent of the combined populations of New York City and Phoenix.

People in “Show Business”, and that includes Professional Sports, and the reporting of it, need to stop their self-appointed mission of spreading Liberal Propaganda.

As ESPN and Hollywood have been finding out the hard way, average Americans want them to shut up and entertain us.

As I have written several times, America is still a Majority Conservative Nation.

Look at an Electoral Map of what happened during the Presidential Election of November 8th.. America is a Sea of Red, with little Blue Enclaves, up in the Northeast and on the Left Coast.

Hollywood and the Television Bigwigs on the East and West Coasts need to pay attention to which television programs and movies the American public are watching at home…and make more just like them.

Also, Americans tune in to ESPN for Sports Programming, not Liberal Political Propaganda.

Average Americans are more perceptive than Liberals think we are.

The more determined that Liberals are to force their Revisionist History, Relative Morality, and Situational Ethics down the throats of the actual overwhelming majority of average Americans, living here in “flyover Country”, who want no part of it.

Until the Liberals in Hollywood (and New York City and Washington, DC) realize that, they will continue to fail.

Just as their precious Democratic Party and the Presidential Candidate that they thought could not lose got their hindquarters handed to them on November 8th.

If this “standing up for what you believe in”, in the name of  “political correctness”, emanating from the mouths of “the enlightened”, was coming from the mouths of Christian Business Owners, it would be labeled as “hateful bigotry”…wouldn’t it?

Until He Comes,

KJ

Tears For a Clown: Jerry Lewis 3/26/1926 – 8/20/2017 (A KJ Unofficial Biography)

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, Politics1 Comment

untitled (169)

American Icon, Comedian, and Philanthropist Jerry Lewis passed away from natural causes yesterday at the age of 91.

Born Joseph Levitch in Newark, New Jersey, his career in show business spanned 70 years. beginning with his first appearance with his parents, who were both entertainers, in the Catskill Mountains Circuit at age 5.

Per FoxNews.com,

He began using the professional name Joey Lewis, but later changed it to Jerry, reportedly to avoid confusion with comedian Joe E. Lewis.

In the summer of 1946, Lewis teamed up with  (Dean) Martin – first with a nightclub act, then radio and television appearances. Martin was the suave, debonair singer while Lewis was the zany, boyish sidekick with the huge grin and squeaky voice.

They went on to make a series of movies together before the partnership ended in 1956 and both launched successful solo careers.

Lewis became a major comedy star with his first solo film, 1957’s “The Delicate Delinquent,” followed by “Rock-A-Bye Baby” and “The Geisha Boy.” His later films included “The Bellboy,” “Cinderfella,” “The Nutty Professor” and “The King of Comedy.”

He also appeared in stage musicals and in 1994 made his Broadway debut as the Devil in a revival of “Damn Yankees.”

Lewis was consistently respected abroad and a perennial favorite of French critics, sometimes to the amusement of fans at home. In 2006 the French Minister of Culture awarded him the Legion d’Honneur, saying he was the ‘French people’s favorite clown.”

Throughout his career, Lewis worked ceaselessly to raise funds for muscular dystrophy and was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

He was married twice, to Patti Palmer from 1944 until 1980 and to SanDee Pitnick from 1983 until his death. He had five surviving sons from his first marriage (a sixth died) and a daughter from his second.

Lewis was not only a masterful comedian, he was also a skilled Song and Dance Man and a gifted actor.

Perhaps his biggest mark on American Society was the outstanding work he did for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and his “kids”.

For 45 years, American families would, while spending time together, watch the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon. The telethon would begin on Sunday Evening and continue for 21 1/2 hours, ending on Monday evening at 5:00 p.m. Central. Co-hosted in later years by Ed McMahon and Norm Crosby, stars of stage, screen, and television would appear, alongside corporate executives, all there to raise money for “Jerry’s Kids”.

And, when I say “stars”, I mean STARS.

Jerry’s good friend, Sammy Davis, Jr. would come on every year, on Monday afternoon, and do a solid 30 minutes of entertaining, usually badgering Jerry, until he would come out and do a couple of songs with him, usually ending in a tap dance “challenge”.

Here is an example of how their friendship and antics together would entertain us every year:

Mr. Las Vegas himself, Wayne Newton, would come on after that and bring down the house, with several high energy numbers, wearing his huge American Eagle Belt Buckle and “TCB” Necklace, which Elvis Presley gave him as a sign of friendship and respect.

Speaking of the King, while Elvis did not appear live every year, usually, also sometime Monday Afternoon, Ed McMahon would say,

Jerry, we just received a call from Graceland.

Which meant that Elvis. known throughout my hometown of Memphis for his great generosity, had just phoned in a huge donation.

Perhaps, one of the most poignant moments in the history of the telethon came during the 1976 Program, when  the Chairman of the Board, Francis Albert Sinatra, showed up. Frank told Jerry that he had brought a friend with him and asked him to come out. That friend was Jerry’s ex-partner, Dean Martin. The two had been estranged for years. Jerry became emotional. He hugged Dino, and, when everyone became silent, he asked,

So, how ya been?

6 years ago, after 45 years of magnanimous service, raising untold millions for the MDA, Lewis was cruelly and unceremoniously dumped. In fact, the MDA did not even have the guts to tell Jerry Lewis that they dumped him!

We honor Jerry Lewis, we admire the work he’s done for us, and we respect his decision to retire.

That particular quote came from Valerie Cwik, the MDA’s interim president, at the time. She replaced Gerald Weinberg, who was reportedly behind Lewis’s ouster and who stepped down as president, after 54 years with the organization.

She made the lame argument that the changes in the telethon were part of a necessary evolution in fundraising strategy, to put less emphasis on the once-a-year event.

It has to change because the American audience has changed. A 21.5-hour show doesn’t fit in a 140-character world.

During 2016, the current MDA President reached out to Lewis and attempted to smooth things over with him, opening the door for possible voice-over projects in the future.

I swear, “The Smartest People in the Room”. a.k.a., Modern American Liberals, screw up everything.

Okay. I know that Lewis had a reputation as an ego-maniacal pain-in-the-rear to work with, but, these were people’s lives that the MDA was messing with. It could have, and should have, been handled differently.

However, Jerry Lewis also devoted over half his life for “his kids”, visiting them in hospitals around the nation, with no cameras around, along with calling and visiting Corporate CEOs and A-List Celebrities, getting them to help him raise money for those kids and adults struck down by these debilitating Muscular Disorders.

His ouster by MDA showed no respect or gratitude, whatsoever.

What happened to Jerry Lewis, seems to be happening to American Society in general.

This lack of respect seems to be an epidemic in this country. In the workplace, I have noticed that there sure does seem to be a lot of  “millennials” who have no respect whatsoever for decorum, their co-workers, or authority.

Now, I may just be a 58 year old fuddy-duddy Cracka, but I have no desire to see your brand new shoulder tattoo in the business office, ladies…nor your neck tattoo with Pookie’s name on it, young Skillet.

And, when older folks in your place of business try to tell you how the world works, kiddies, you would be well-served to listen to us. We’re trying to help.

This is real life. You’re not playing “World of Warcraft” or “Final Fantasy”. People’s families depend on their paycheck. And, when you do not “pull your weight” at your job, you affect everyone’s incomes.

As the MDA learned the hard way, the “young and culturally hip” are usually not as reliable as the “experienced and professional”.

Of course, as it always has been…some folks have to learn things the hard way.

And, that’s when they find out that they are not as smart as they think they are.

But, I digress…

Jerry Lewis’ legacy will be that of a man, who, with all of his flaws, left an indelible mark on both the Entertainment and Medical Industries. The money which he helped raise for the Muscular Dystrophy Association helped advance their fight against neuromuscular disease.

And, while he was able to lend his talents to that great cause, “Jerry’s Kids” knew that they never walked alone.

Rest in Peace, sir.

Until He Comes,

KJ

An American Original: Glen Campbell April 22, 1936-August 8, 2017

On By kingsjesterIn EntertainmentLeave a comment

150310-glen-campbell-mn-1100_1fc94a17527e71da4d08931b78a30bda.nbcnews-fp-1200-800

Music Fans received some sad news, yesterday.

From Glen Campbell’s Official FB Page:

“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and legendary singer and guitarist, Glen Travis Campbell, at the age of 81, following his long and courageous battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Glen is survived by his wife, Kim Campbell of Nashville, TN; their three children, Cal, Shannon and Ashley; his children from previous marriages, Debby, Kelli, Travis, Kane, and Dillon; ten… grandchildren, great- and great-great-grandchildren; sisters Barbara, Sandra, and Jane; and brothers John Wallace “Shorty” and Gerald.

In lieu of flowers, donations for Alzheimer’s research may be made to the Glen Campbell Memorial Fund at BrightFocus Foundation through the donation page at Careliving.org.”

This special post is dedicated to the man from Delight, Arkansas.

No American accomplished more or proved 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 On My Mind, 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.

In 2011, 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, revealed 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.”

In 2014, Glen’s wife, Kim, wrote the following opinion piece for Fox News, in conjunction with the release of his final album  and a documentary, detailing Glen’s journey through the stages of Alzheimer’s Disease.

It touched my heart. I believe it will touch your heart as well.

My husband, Glen Campbell, has stage 6 Alzheimer’s disease. Seven months ago, at the recommendation of his doctors, we placed him in a memory care facility close to our home in Nashville.

It’s a community that’s designed specifically for the needs of those who have Alzheimer’s and dementia. They have all kinds of therapies and activities that stimulate parts of the brain affected by the illness. It’s a safe and secure environment where he receives around-the-clock care.

It’s been good for him. He just seems more at peace there than he was at home, where he became increasingly agitated and frantic.

He lives in a mental fog most of the time. He’s lost most of his language skills and has a hard time communicating. He still has moments of lucidity, though, and those moments let us know he’s still in there and that he’s the Glen we’ve always known. He can make short sentences and say things like “I love you” and “We are so blessed.”

The aides and nurses say he must have been a godly man because they always see him thanking the Lord. I’ve seen him walk over to the window and lift up his hands and say, “Thank you, heavenly Father.” 
The aides and nurses say he must have been a godly man because they always see him thanking the Lord. I’ve seen him walk over to the window and lift up his hands and say, “Thank you, heavenly Father.”

Those moments are so comforting because when you’re facing your mortality, that’s when you want to know God is there. That’s when you really want to draw close to Him.

When I see him do that, I know God is with him, and he’s aware of His presence. He’s relying on the Lord and gets his strength from Him.

People should not give up on others who have dementia. The essence of who they are is still alive and still in there.

He’s still the Glen Campbell he’s always been. He’s always especially loved children and old people. There’s this little lady in a wheelchair in the facility, and she can’t speak at all. He will walk over to her and take her little hand in his and say, “You are so precious.”

He’ll kiss her on the forehead, and she’ll just look up at him. She has no idea who he is, but you can tell it comforts her.

Even in his affliction, he’s ministering to people and trying to be a blessing.

In between those moments, he’s lost. He wanders. He can’t communicate. He doesn’t understand what others say to him. It’s very hard to direct him even to sit in a chair in the dining room.

When we did the film, “Glen Campbell… I’ll Be Me,” which documents his last farewell tour, Glen was in stages 2-4. He knew what was happening to him and he wanted to let people know what Alzheimer’s is really like.

He was passionate about making this film because he hoped it would be a catalyst for more funding for research to find a cure. He wanted to encourage other families who are dealing with this disease to keep living their lives, supporting each other and lifting each other up.

When Glen got the diagnosis and decided to go public, it was because he wanted fans to know what was going on in case he exhibited odd behavior on stage, like repeating a song or forgetting what key it was in.

He just wanted them to understand. But after he made the announcement, we all wondered if anyone would want to come see someone with Alzheimer’s perform.

We wondered if his fans would rather remember him the way he was. Maybe it would be depressing. Or maybe no one would be interested either way.

But what we found was the exact opposite. The first show he did after making the announcement sold out. From the time he walked on stage to the time he walked off, it was one standing ovation after another. It was clear fans were there to shower him with love and to root for, support and encourage him. It really blessed Glen and encouraged him to continue on.

Offers began to pour in from around the country for Glen to come to their cities to perform.

What began as a five-week farewell tour turned into 151 dates. His last show was at the Uptown Theater in Napa, Calif., on Nov. 30, 2012.

The first 15-20 minutes were a train wreck. He was having difficulties. His guitar wasn’t loud enough. It didn’t have the quality he wanted. He became very agitated on stage. He kept turning his back to the audience. His band was very uncomfortable. It was a tough show.

But the audience, again, was so supportive. They cheered for him without fail and without question. They loved him unconditionally.

He snapped back and finished the show strong. It was good, but it was clear it was time for us to end the tour and say farewell.

He closed the show with “A Better Place.”  

Daily we pray for grace and mercy as he approaches the final stages of this illness and are so thankful for the moments we see Glen being Glen.

If the final worth of our lives is measured by the lives we touched then Glen Campbell passed away a very rich man.

God bless and Godspeed, sir.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Day the Libs’ National Temper Tantrum Went Too Far: Kathy Griffin and Her Phony Apology

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, PoliticsLeave a comment

Kathy Griffin Performs At Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza

You couldn’t find a group of people outside of an insane asylum who are just more out of touch with reality [than actors]. – Chuck Woolery

Truer words were never spoken.

FoxNews.com reports that

Kathy Griffin admitted Tuesday she “went too far” on her latest photo shoot with controversial photographer Tyler Shields in which she is holding a bloodied mask of President Trump. 
 
The gory photo first published in TMZ from Griffin’s photo session with the famed Shields, known for his shocking pictures.

In a Twitter post late Tuesday, Griffin said the image “is too disturbing,” and that “it wasn’t funny.”

“I understand how it offends people,” she said, adding “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career.”

According to the gossip site, Griffin joked with Shields on set they would need to move to Mexico after the photos were released or fear imprisonment. In her Twitter post on Tuesday, Griffin said she was going to “take down the image.” 

“I went too far and I was wrong,” she said.

People took to Twitter to express their disdain for the photo shoot.

Reps for Griffin did not immediately return Fox News’ request for comment.

Chelsea Clinton called it “vile and wrong” in a Twitter post.

Shields told Fox News that Griffin was hoping to create a bold message.

“Kathy and I are friends and we worked together before, so when we started doing this shoot, she said, ‘I’d love to do something political. I’d love to make a statement,'” he explained. “We kind of figured out what would be the best image to make out of that.”

Shields added the image was meant to serve as art and he’s aware that it could make some viewers uncomfortable.

“That’s what art is meant to do,” he said. “Some people look at it and they love it. Some people look at it and they hate it… I understand there are going to be people that hate this. It’s a very touchy subject… but this is not real. We didn’t kill anybody nor do I feel anybody should be killed. It’s no different from a movie. It just happens to be a still image.”

Shields tweeted a link to a YouTube video called “Behind the scenes with Kathy Griffin” but the video has since been removed. However, he later told Fox News that the video had glitches, which prompted him to take it down and then re-upload it.

This is hardly the first time Shields’ photos have caused uproar. He previously received death threats over a photo he took of “Glee” actress Heather Morris with bruises on her face. The photo was criticized for making light of domestic abuse.

As for his recent collaboration with Griffin, he doesn’t regret it.

“I can’t speak for her, [but] I know she loves to stir the pot,” he said. “For me, I love the idea we have freedom of speech. The fact that I’m allowed to make an image like this says a lot. To me, that’s a powerful thing… nobody’s killed me for this image so it’s not that bad. I love Kathy and I hope they let me visit her in Guantanamo.”

“Bold message”, my hindquarters.

This poor excuse for an actress, a comedienne, and a human being is “ate up with” Trump Derangement Syndrome to point of becoming homicidal.

The “Home Training” which we all experienced as average Americans living in America’s Heartland was either nonexistent in her Wonder Years or it never took hold.

I am quite certain that when this disgusting image of her holding the bloody severed head of the 45th President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, was seen by the Far Left Hollywood  Elite, they had quite a laugh over it.

Those of us who were “raised right” were absolutely disgusted with both the image and the psychotic heifer in it.

Once again, the Hollywood “Elite” on the Left of the Political Spectrum who voted for Hillary Clinton to be our next President of the United States of America, continue in public to show their hindquarters, while throwing the longest temper tantrum that the world has ever seen over the results of an American Presidential Election, that happened almost five months ago.

These self-proclaimed activists, are making a lie out of the claim that they have made for years that they are the most tolerant…and “gifted” among us.

In fact, these sore losers remind me of the hysterically sobbing children that you hear in every Walmart across the country.

It’s not that those children are crying because they are physically hurt. Just like these Hollywood Liberals, they’re crying because they did not get their way.

This epic meltdown by those who are paid handsomely to entertain us is a direct result of an isolated ignorance of average Americans’ desire to rid ourselves of those in the Halls of Power who told us repeatedly that they knew what was best for us and “who we were”, while their actual mission was to turn America into a Third-World Barrio in their quest to make us a Socialist Paradise.

All during the Presidential Campaign, the Democratic Party, along with those in “Showbiz”, through their minions in the Main Stream Media, assured us that it was a foregone conclusion that Hillary Clinton would be our 45th president.

There is a reason for that.

The Liberal Elite have always believed that our country revolves around the big metropolitan areas in the Northeast and in California. They have always looked down their noses at what they derisively call “Flyover Country”, the same area that many of us call the Heartland of America or simply “home”.

This meltdown which promises to last way past Inauguration Day, is a reaction caused by their own unbridled and unsupported arrogance.

Just like their fellow Modern American Liberals who run Democratic Party, the disconnected “dancing monkeys” in Tinsel Town and the Big Apple, like the mentally deranged Kathy Griffin, never saw Trump’s victory coming.

At this point, all their incessant national temper tantrum is doing, is making them look like fools.

I don’t remember any of us average Americans asking them for their opinion as to how we should vote, do you?

Perhaps, if they got their noses out of the air and actually associated with their families and former friends “back home”, instead of kissing each other’s hindquarters at the latest Premiere or “social event”, perhaps they and reality would not have taken divergent paths, and they would conduct themselves and  comport themselves like those Hollywood Legends before them, who served their country during World War II, doing whatever they could to help America defeat fascism.

Now, these pampered ,self-righteous, oblivious Lightweights wish to restore to power the fascists that Americans defeated at the Ballot Box on November 8th, 2016.

As we say down here in the part of America’s Heartland, known as Dixie…

It just don’t make no sense.

Oh, and by the way, the only reason that the psychotic heifer Kathy Griffin apologized is found in the excerpt from The Washington Times…

After she posted the image, numerous people on social media not only criticized her but also tagged the Secret Service, the agency charged with protecting the president and handling assassination threats.

The agency’s Twitter feed acknowledged the reports Tuesday evening and said it is “on it!” 

“On it! @SecretService has a robust protective intelligence division that monitors open source reporting & social media to evaluate threats,” the agency wrote.

“Threats made against @SecretService protectees receive the highest priority of all of our investigations. #ProtectionNeverRests,” the Secret Service continued.

And, about that apology, Kathy…on behalf of the other “Deplorables” out here in the Heartland:

Turn it sideways and stick it where the sun “don’t” shine.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Free Speech for Me. None for Thee: Intolerant Liberals Strike Down “Last Man Standing”

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, Politics2 Comments

The-Last-Man-Standing-Tim-Allen

You gotta be real careful around here (Hollywood). You get beat up if you don’t believe what everybody else believes. This is like ’30s Germany. – Tim Allen

Truer words were never spoken.

Heatstreet.com reports that

It’s TV upfront week, which means major network cancellations are being announced left, right and center.

But the liberal ABC Television Network’s decision to axe Tim Allen’s hit Friday night comedy “The Last Man Standing” has caused consternation among fans who suspect the highly rated multi-camera sitcom has been nixed primarily because of Allen’s right-of-center political beliefs.

The show was ABC’s second-most-watched comedy this season, with 8.1 million viewers, only behind “Modern Family”. Deadline Hollywood, which broke the news of the cancellation, reported that “The Last Man Standing” was “hitting ratings highs in its sixth season.”

Many viewers of the show think that the decision is being made by liberal ABC, owned by Disney, primarily because the series is about an unashamedly conservative character (Mike Baxter) played by a conservative actor. Allen told Jimmy Kimmel in March that living in Hollywood right now was akin to being in Nazi Germany.

Leading the protest is Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who tweeted: “Looks like ABC is playing politics with your show despite decent ratings. Sad.”

Many fans of the show are furious on social media and are calling for a boycott of the network.

There are four petitions on change.org begging ABC to re-consider their decision. Neither Allen nor the network have commented on the move, but ABC is understood to be citing the fact it doesn’t own “The Last Man Standing” (Fox produces the show) and the show’s aging viewer demographic to explain why it pulled the plug.

It is, however, also possible that it has do with ABC‘s reluctance to promote conservative politics on its network. It has been reported that Bob Iger, the longtime CEO of Disney, is flirting with an idea of running for president in 2020 as a Democrat.

He told The Hollywood Reporter back in June that “a lot of people—a lot—have urged me to seek political office,” but denied thinking about running for California governor or senator. (He didn’t deny the possibility of running for the White House.)

ABC’s beleaguered news division is also staunchly liberal. President Trump mocked ABC News “Chief Global Affairs Correspondent” Martha Raddatz (whose second of three weddings was attended by Barack Obama) for “crying” during election night coverage after it became clear Trump had won an historic victory.

“How about when a major anchor who hosted a debate started crying when she realized that we won?” Trump said during his “Thank You” tour in Cincinnati back in December.

(Raddatz has denied crying, though it certainly looked like it.)

Waterworks or no, ABC’s bias extends well beyond Raddatz. The network employs George Stephanopoulos, a former Bill Clinton operative, as its grandiosely titled “Chief Anchor and Chief Political Correspondent”. Stephanopoulos was exposed during the presidential campaign for having donated at least $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation, and therefore had to grudgingly recuse himself from moderating any debates. ABC enriches Stephanopoulos to the tune of more than $10 million a year.

Furthermore, ABC’s Chief Foreign Correspondent Terry Moran referred to President Trump’s inaugural address as reminiscent of the anti-Semitic rhetoric of 1930s Nazi Germany.

ABC came under fire last year for its failed sitcom “The Real O’Neals” which cruelly mocked Irish Catholics. The hopelessly homophobic fictional Irish Catholic family in the sitcom had a statue of the Blessed Virgin above their toilet and made Jesus-shaped pancakes for breakfast. The executive producer of “The Real O’Neals”, Dan Savage, on whose life the sitcom was based, is known for his obscene sex advice column, and for gaming Google search results on conservative Christian Senator Rick Santorum so that the first search result for “Santorum” was a page defining the Senator’s name as “a frothy mixture of lubricant and fecal matter as an occasional byproduct of anal sex.” Savage also famously once tried to sicken conservative activist Gary Bauer by licking the door handle to his motel room.

ABC also recently was fiercely criticized for mocking police and Middle America with its March gay rights miniseries “When We Rise”, which appeared to glorify the firebombing of police cars and overwhelmingly portrayed white, straight characters as ignorant, hateful rubes.

Unlike “The Last Man Standing”, “When We Rise” was a catastrophic ratings bomb.

Isn’t it funny how those who claim to be the most tolerant among us, are actually the most intolerant of all of us?

Average Americans are being treated as subhuman by the self-proclaimed “Smartest People in the Room”.

These “spoiled brats”, still weeping and wailing in the throes of self-afflicted agony over the miserable failure of Hillary Clinton to defeat Donald J. Trump on November 8, 2016, do not care about the “Will of the People”, but, rather, they are intent on reinstating. restoring, and enforcing their Far Left Political Ideology, resulting in a “Tyranny of the Minority”, which we are seeing play out, as they attempt to hold on to their “FREE STUFF” bestowed upon them by the “benevolent masters” of the Democrat Party, by trying to block President Donald J. Trump’s mandate which he was given by the average Americans who elected him the 45th President of the United States of America.

The use of Karl Marx/Saul Alinsky-inspired “Class War Politics” funded by “non-profit” organizations, who are in turn funded by Former Nazi Sympathizer and Billionaire George Soros, has inspired these “protestors”, leading to a divided nation, the likes of which has not been seen since “The War of Northern Aggression”.

When our Founding Fathers sat down to provide form and substance to the laws and procedures for governing this new country, which they had fought and won a bloody war over, by pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, they were very aware of the price of tyranny.

They determined that this new nation would be a Constitutional Republic, having had their fill of monarchies.

And, that Sacred Document, our United States Constitution, gives each of us the right, including Trump, Tim Allen, and the writers of “Last Man Standing”, to speak our minds and be heard.

According to a Gallup Poll, published on January 16th, 2016, Conservatives are still the leading Political Ideology in America at 37%, followed closely by “self-described” Moderates at 35%. Liberals remain the Minority Political Ideology in America, comprising only 24% of our population.

The Liberal Elite have always believed that our country revolves around the big metropolitan areas in the Northeast and in California. They have always looked down their noses at what they derisively call “Flyover Country”, the same area that many of us call the Heartland of America or simply “home”.

This meltdown, as witnessed by Americans since the election returns came in on the night of November 8th, 2016, is a reaction caused by their own unbridled and unsupported arrogance.

Just like their fellow Modern American Liberals who run Democratic Party, the disconnected “dancing monkeys” in Tinsel Town and the Big Apple never saw Trump’s victory coming.

At this point, all their incessant national temper tantrum is doing, is making them look like fools.

I don’t remember any of us average Americans asking them for their opinion as to how we should vote, do you?

Perhaps, if they got their noses out of the air and actually associated with their families and former friends “back home”, instead of kissing each other’s hindquarters at the latest Premiere or “social event”, perhaps they and reality would not have taken divergent paths, and they would conduct themselves and  comport themselves like those Hollywood Legends before them, who served their country during World War II, doing whatever they could to help America defeat fascism.

Now, these pampered ,self-righteous, oblivious Lightweights wish to restore to power the fascists that Americans defeated at the Ballot Box on November 8th, 2016 by possibly running the head of Disney, Bob Iger. against President Donald J. Trump in 2020?

A guy who allowed his “Braintrust” to cancel his second highest-rated Comedy on his Broadcast Network because it was a Conservative Show with a Conservative Lead Actor, and tick off millions of viewers?

Seriously?

Sounds pretty “Goofy” to me.

As we say down here in the part of America’s Heartland, known as Dixie…

It just don’t make no sense.

Until He Comes,

KJ

March Madness and the Story of a Basketball Player Who United a City

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, EntertainmentLeave a comment

1973_ncaa_semifinal_3531203_ver1.0_640_480

Here we are, in the middle of the NCAA College Basketball Tournament., that time of year, which has been dubbed “March Madness”.

This time of year, I always think about a man who made a difference in my life and that of many others.

HIs name was Larry O. Finch.

You may or may not have heard of him.

The following is a post which I wrote 6 years ago, upon hearing of his death in 2011.

I am reposting this because, in this age of superficial spoiled brat professional athletes, it  is a story about a man whose life was not only filled with a love of the game, but with love for his fellow man.

And, it being a Sabbath Morning, there is no better time to relate this story.

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.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Requiem for a Bad Dog: John McCormack 1955-2011 (Six Year Anniversary Edition)

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, EntertainmentLeave a comment

Yesterday marked the 6- Year Anniversary of the death of a legend known throughout Memphis and the entire Mid-South, larger-than-life Radio Personality John “Bad Dog” McCormack.  Here is a tribute which I wrote, upon hearing of his passing on March 10, 2010.  He is still truly missed.

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 $2,800 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 years 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 was 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. [The program bombed miserably.]

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 [now 6 years ago] on display outside  a local jewelry store says it all:

BAD DOG MADE MEMPHIS A BETTER PLACE.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Holier-Than-Thou-Wood: As Expected, the Oscars Turns into a “Lecturing the Deplorables While Bashing Trump” – Fest

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, Politics5 Comments

bob-hope-john-wayne-ronald-reagan-dean-martin-and-frank-sinatra

…I always thought I was a liberal but I came up terribly surprised when I found I was a right wing conservative extremist…I have always listened to every human being I’ve ever met about how I should feel.  But this so-called new liberal group… they never listen to your point of view and they make a decision as to what you think and they’re articulate enough and in control of enough of the press to force that image out for the average person.  For some reason, maybe it’s these pictures, they have not been able to do that with me…it hasn’t affected my career in popularity in spite of the fact that they’ve tried to make them do it.  There isn’t a hell of a lot we can do to change human behavior.  We keep making laws to try to change human behavior but we can’t do it…You’re being conned into Keynesianism and socialism now but it isn’t going to stop the selfishness of human behavior.  It isn’t going to stop the greed.  If you take $20 and give a dollar to every son of a b!tch in the room, you come back a year later one of the b@st@rds will have most of the money.  It’s just human nature.  We’re never gonna whip it with a lot of laws. 

As communication gets better and you make people conscious of somebody in trouble, starving or something like that, the average person will help…I think there are people who try to affect a thinking where they know more than some other son of a b!tch and try to pull a false impression on what human nature is.  We’ve proven we go back to hope at the first opportunity…and bam they’re out there ready to grab it.  So we are optimistic; we have to be optimistic.  What else would we be if you lose optimism?” –  John Wayne

Well, Duke…I guess when you lose optimism, you sound like a bunch of spoiled brats.

Entertainment Weekly reported last night that

The first salvo against Donald Trump was fired only a few minutes into the Oscars — and then they just kept on coming.

After a joyous opening musical number by Justin Timberlake performing best original song nominee “Can’t Stop the Feeling” that brought the crowd to its feet, host Jimmy Kimmel took the stage at the 89th annual Academy Awards and threw out one POTUS joke after another:

“This is being watched live by millions of people in 225 countries that now hate us,” Kimmel said (full monologue video below).

Kimmel also had this to say: “I want to say thank you to President Trump. Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist? … It’s gone thanks to him.”

And this: “In Hollywood, we don’t discriminate against people based on what countries they come from. We discriminate on them based on their age and weight.”

Kimmel also made jokes about “mediocre” and “overrated” Meryl Streep — a reference to Trump’s criticism of the actress, who slammed him during the Golden Globes last month.

And the ABC late-night host noted that actors will give speeches that “the president will tweet about in all caps during his 5 a.m. bowel movement tomorrow.”

But Kimmel also surprised by throwing out this plea for unity: “If every person watching this show … if every one of you took a minute to reach out to someone you disagree with, someone you like and have a positive, considerate conversation — not as liberals and conservatives, but as Americans —  we could make America great again.”

The host also joked that he’s the wrong person to unite the country. “I can’t do that,” Kimmel said as the camera shifted to showing Hacksaw Ridge director Mel Gibson, a best director nominee, seated in the audience. “There’s only one Braveheart in this room and he’s not going to unite us either.”

After the monologue, Kimmel wasn’t done: “Doctor Strange was nominated for special effects — and also Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.”

Later, when Iranian director Asghar Farhadi won for The Salesman, the award was accepted on his behalf by Anousheh Ansari, famed for being the first female space tourist. Ansari read a blistering letter from Farhadi, who declared last month he would not attend the Oscars in the wake of Trump’s executive order blocking citizens from Iran and six other predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. (The ban has since been halted by judicial decisions.)

“I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight,” Farhadi said via the letter. “My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and from the other six nations whom have been disrespected by the inhumane law which bans immigrants entry into the U.S.” Ansari was interrupted by cheers here, then continued: “Dividing the world into the ‘us and our enemies’ categories creates fear — a deceitful justification for aggression and war. These wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries which themselves have been victims of aggression. Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others — an empathy we need today more than ever.”

Trump’s immigration policy was also in the spotlight when The White Helmets — about the Syrian civil war — won best documentary short. U.S. immigration authorities reportedly barred its 21-year-old cinematographer Khaled Khateeb from traveling to Los Angeles for the Oscars. Director Orlando von Einsiedel noted, “It’s very easy to feel these guys have been forgotten, the war has been going on for six years, if everyone here could just stand up and remind them that we all care that this war ends as quickly as possible.”

In another instance, actor Gael Garcia Bernal took a shot at Trump’s border wall plan while introducing best animated film: “Flesh and blood actors are migrant workers. We travel all over the world. We construct families, we build life, but we cannot be divided. As a Mexican, as a Latin American, as a migrant worker, as a human being, I’m against any form of wall that wants to separate us.”

And when Zootopia won that category, director Rich Moore pointedly noted, “We are so grateful to audiences to audiences all over the world who embraced this film with this story of tolerance being more powerful than fear of the Other.”

After all these references to Trump policies, Kimmel tweeted to the president while on stage: “Hey @realDonaldTrump u up?”

Once again, the Hollywood “Elite” on the Left of the Political Spectrum who voted for Hillary Clinton to be our next President of the United States of America, continue in public to show their hindquarters, while throwing the longest temper tantrum that the world has ever seen over the results of an American Presidential Election, that happened almost five months ago.

These self-proclaimed activists, are making a lie out of the claim that they have made for years that they are the most tolerant…and “gifted” among us.

In fact, these sore losers remind me of the hysterically sobbing children that you hear in every Walmart across the country.

It’s not that those children are crying because they are physically hurt. Just like these Hollywood Liberals, they’re crying because they did not get their way.

This epic meltdown by those who are paid handsomely to entertain us is a direct result of an isolated ignorance of average Americans’ desire to rid ourselves of those in the Halls of Power who told us repeatedly that they knew what was best for us and “who we were”, while their actual mission was to turn America into a Third-World Barrio in their quest to make us a Socialist Paradise.

All during the Presidential Campaign, the Democratic Party, along with those in “Showbiz”, through their minions in the Main Stream Media, assured us that it was a foregone conclusion that Hillary Clinton would be our 45th president.

There is a reason for that.

The Liberal Elite have always believed that our country revolves around the big metropolitan areas in the Northeast and in California. They have always looked down their noses at what they derisively call “Flyover Country”, the same area that many of us call the Heartland of America or simply “home”.

This meltdown which promises to last way past Inauguration Day, is a reaction caused by their own unbridled and unsupported arrogance.

Just like their fellow Modern American Liberals who run Democratic Party, the disconnected “dancing monkeys” in Tinsel Town and the Big Apple never saw Trump’s victory coming.

At this point, all their incessant national temper tantrum is doing, is making them look like fools.

I don’t remember any of us average Americans asking them for their opinion as to how we should vote, do you?

Perhaps, if they got their noses out of the air and actually associated with their families and former friends “back home”, instead of kissing each other’s hindquarters at the latest Premiere or “social event”, perhaps they and reality would not have taken divergent paths, and they would conduct themselves and  comport themselves like those Hollywood Legends before them, who served their country during World War II, doing whatever they could to help America defeat fascism.

Now, these pampered ,self-righteous, oblivious Lightweights wish to restore to power the fascists that Americans defeated at the Ballot Box on November 8th, 2016.

As we say down here in the part of America’s Heartland, known as Dixie…

It just don’t make no sense.

Until He Comes,

KJ