BILL BLOG
Wednesday August 30, 2023
Wednesday…Hump Day…All Day. 87 for a high here today with a low down to 61 tonight. Meanwhile further south…
All eyes on hurricane Idalia coming ashore in Florida now at Category 3 strength. It went from Cat 1 to Cat 3 very quickly and now we’re talking crazy high storm surges in parts of Florida. Record breaking stuff according to some…and that’s not a good thing. Key West has already been battered; Ft. Meyers is flooded with much more to come it appears. Evacuations ordered in some areas in the direct target path. Half of the state is under a state of emergency. Flight cancellations, power outages, 120 mph winds…the whole deal.
The Blast on the Bay Songwriters Festival down in Port St. Joe, Florida looks to be on the edge of the storm in that panhandle region. Certainly hoping for the best, as a few years ago a hurricane wiped out Mexico Beach and the writers festival was cancelled two years for rebuilding in that area.
Stay safe folks.
YESTERDAY
I wrote with my longtime friend Jerry Salley and a great friend of his who made
the trip down to Nashville from Dayton, Ohio Mark Bondurant who has a comedy
song funny bone like I do. Mark is a recently retired pharmacist but has always
written songs…a lot of them funny like this one “Bacon In My Beans” the Joe
Mullins and the Radio Ramblers recorded…a song Mark wrote with Jerry Salley. So
we spent some time comparing Ohio notes (Skyline Chili, the Dayton Dragons
baseball park and team and Wiley’s Comedy Club where I used to perform in
Dayton) and then got down to tackling an idea that Mark brought with him.
Turned out to be a bluegrass kind of song with a pretty good smile in it, maybe
even a laugh or two. Pretty good Tuesday at the office.
THE OAKS
I did get a little musical present yesterday at my writing session. Jerry is recording a gospel-bluegrass album right now from songs our mutual friend Rick Lang wrote or co-wrote. One of those songs is titled “Blue Collar Gospel” that Jerry and I wrote with Rick that will be the title track (as it stands now) for this album to be released on Billy Blue Records in a few months. On our song Jerry sings the lead vocal with the Oak Ridge Boys joining him. He played me the unfinished version yesterday and what a musical treat that was getting to hear the Oak Ridge Boys singing on it. And yes, Richard Sterban’s deep voice does get shown off a bit in this song. I’m looking very forward to sharing this song as soon as I can.
SPEAKING OF RICHARD STERBAN
There are ways to make your voice sound deeper. Maybe never as deeps as Richard and his “Oom Poppa Oom Poppa Mow Mow” voice…but deeper. One way is by breathing through your diaphragm when you sing or speak. There are actually some speech coaches that help teach that.
On the other end of the vocal spectrum I don’t think there are any voice coaches that teach you how to talk like the late Michael Jackson did.
HEALTH NOTES
US News and World Report listed the top 25 counties in the country with the highest COVID rates. Lots of counties in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Nebraska made this unenviable list.
The CDC is reporting that 22 states are now seeing a substantial rise in COVID hospitalizations.
How about this. A study shows that “laughter therapy” is shown to reduce heart disease. Yep. I say on stage sometimes that nobody feels bad when they’re laughing. Which is what this song I wrote that I close some of my shows with is all about. “Leave Em’ Laughing”.
SIGN
I think some parent could no longer hold back their frustration with their teenager here.
ADULTS ONLY
Corendon Airlines, a European Airline is going to offer an “adults only” section on some international flights. You’ll have to be 16 or older to sit in that section. And maybe they’ll build a ball pit and jungle gym back in the kids section of the plane as well. Maybe.
THE PRICE IS RIGHT
CBS has announced they will air a one hour tribute to Bob Barker who passed away a few days ago at the age of 99. That will air tomorrow August 31. Maybe the tribute will reveal where he got that long skinny microphone he used.
BIGGER BURGER
A judge has greenlighted a lawsuit against Burger King claiming basically that their burgers are not as big as advertised. Ironic that this could be a whopper of a lawsuit huh? How big is a WHOPPER supposed to be? I see a lawyer coming with a tape measure in that courtroom.
FEEL GOOD STORY
How about the teenager who was fishing in Minnesota and reeled in a wallet with a couple of thousand dollars in it? What did he do? He and his family went through the wallet and found the owners driver’s license and knew and returned it to and Iowa farmer who lost it years ago.
Now that folks is truly "catch and release" fishing at it's best.
CONSIDER THIS
“Barbie” the movie is now the highest grossing movie in history for Warner Brothers. EVER. Buy stock in pink folks.
HEADLINE OF THE DAY
Why This British Photographer Has Spent A Decade Dressing Up As Dolly Parton. Now why she chose to talk about in now in this ARTICLE I’m not sure. But if I were to guess…I’d guess she just felt like she had to get it off her chest.
TODAY
I’m writing for a second time today with Todd Tilghman who won the “Voice” competition a couple of years ago on Team Blake. After hearinghim sing up close? I’d have turned my chair for Todd as well.
Have a great Wednesday!
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