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April Fool...Burma Shave...Jolene

BILL BLOG

Monday April 1, 2024


April Fools Day Monday morning is here. I hope you found plenty of eggs in your Easter basket over the weekend.

 

Apparently 22 billion dollars was spent over Easter weekend…3.1 billion of that went to candy. Right now there’s a bunch of chocolate Easter bunnies with their ears bitten off.


 

 

THE WEEKEND

Friday morning I wrote a really fun song with my friend Troy Engle up in Pennsylvania. You have to be a certain age to remember Burma Shave and the old Burma Shave signs that used to run alongside rural roads like the ones I grew up around in Missouri.



 

For those that don’t remember, Burma Shave would put up little riddles, sayings, etc., on six signs and you didn’t get the end of the joke or pun or saying until you passed the last red Burma Shave sign.  And then the one after had the company name Burma Shave on it. It was a unique and fun way to advertise a product.



 

I used to always look forward to seeing those. And at one time they were in 48 different states. Vintage, Americana if you will. They went out of business in 1963.

 

And so…we wrote a bluegrass song about Burma Shave using some of those old road sign sayings. Pretty sure a lot of fans of bluegrass will remember and relate. And we hope we can find a bluegrass artist or band who might love it as much as we do. It was sure fun to write!



 

MORE BLUEGRASS NEWS

My friend and co-writer Tim Stafford over in Knoxville who’s part of the award winning group Blue Highway sent me a not to let me know that a college bluegrass band at Eastern Tennessee State University where Tim teaches some bluegrass classes recorded a song the two of us wrote titled “Old Gray Stone”. The name of the band?  Bluegrass Pythagorus. Apparently old Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher.



 

And get this. Pythagoras in the modern day is best known for the Pythagorean Theorem. Uh huh. What the heck is that?  It’s a mathematical formula which states that the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides.

 

So I’m pretty sure my bluegrass writing has gotten way above my raising. But thank you for recording our song Pythagorus.

 

FINAL FOUR

I did watch a lot of March Madness over the weekend. Anyone have North Carolina State in the Final Four?  Me neither. They join U-Conn, Purdue and Alabama playing it off this Saturday.

 

HOUSTON

I took care of booking a fight to Houston for a big Trop Rock event at the end of April where my friend Brent Burns is being honored by having the entire event named after him. We’re going to do a set on Sunday April 28 at T-Bone Toms in Kemah, Texas…not far from Houston.



 

I also had to book rental car. It’s the first time I’ve done that online in a bit so I was surprised that almost half of the rental car options were electric vehicles. I don’t think they’re going away folks. Me? I went old school and chose a dinosaur of a car that still uses gas. I’m in Texas so I thought I’d support the oil folks in the Lone Star State.

 

HEALTH NOTES

The CDC is reporting that tuberculosis cases have risen for the third year in a row.

 

A study concludes that pneumonia misdiagnoses are common among hospitalized adults.

 

More and more Americans are getting Botox injections in an effort to look younger. How long do they last?  3-4 months on average depending on the person. Average cost of one treatment? $466.

 

SAY WHAT?



 

Man, folks must be dying to sign up for this.

 

A GOOD DEED GETS REWARDED

Paul McCartney’s favorite bass guitar was stolen 50 years ago. Cathy Guest, a mother of two kids found it in her attic of a home she bought. And she returned it to Sir Paul.  He was grateful. Six figures grateful as he rewarded her with a six-figure check to say, “thank you”. I’m checking for stuff in my own attic later today.


 

 

NO MORE BURPING?!

Tupperware warns that it could go out of business over liquidity problems. What the heck am I going to put my macaroni and cheese in when I travel?

 

And what are Mom’s and Grandma’s going to put their “potluck” in when it’s potluck lunch at the Baptist Church after services?


 

 

JOLENE

Have you heard the Beyonce’ version of Dolly Parton’s Jolene yet? There’s a surprise right off the bat on the album cut as Dolly laid down a fun intro to the song. Check it out HERE.

 

And…because Beyonce has gone “country”…and is wearing a cowboy hat the fashion folks are saying cowboy hat sales are going to be hot this summer.


 

 

FUNNY BABY STUFF



 

ECLIPSE

Niagara Falls Canada declared a state of emergency for April 8 and the total eclipse. National Geographic says that Niagara Falls is one of the optimal places to witness the eclipse. So…a lot of folks are going there. They think as many as a million folks might show up in that area to witness it. Ain’t enough rooms to go around and the traffic could be unbearable. State of Emergency.

 

And of course with any event like this these days comes folk out of the woodwork spreading some crazy conspiracy theories.

 

End of the world according to some. Others predicting the power grid will crash. And then others saying folks will become sick because of the eclipse. Geez. I’ve got three letters for these doomsayers to remember. Y 2 K.

 

TIPPERS

A survey reveals what many are already thinking. 75% of those polled think that tipping out of control. My personal favorite is a self-scanning machine that asks if you’d like to leave a tip.

 

Heck, I didn’t even leave a tip in this jar.



 

TODAY

Nothing big today. It’s going to be almost 80 here before storms and tornado type stuff sneaks into our forecast tomorrow so I think I’ll get out and take advantage of this weather before it changes on us.

 

Have a great Monday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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