BILL BLOG
Monday May 12, 2025
Monday morning has rolled back around. Back to work. Here’s hoping you spoiled your Mom a little over Mother’s Day if you're lucky enough to still have your Mom in your life.
East Tennessee, over near the Knoxville area, got rocked with a 4.1 earthquake over the weekend. Hopefully there will be no more of that come August when I’m over there for the Gatlinburg Songwriters Festival. I kind of prefer my stool not shaking when I’m singing.
Today the temperature will reach near 80 in Nashville, AND…more rain. It’s raining heavily as I’m starting this Blog today.
THE WEEKEND
I caught a little baseball on Friday night and watched our Sounds beat the Norfolk Tide 4-0. Our starting pitcher was consistently throwing over 100 mph and struck out 11 batters in just 6 innings. In the minor leagues! I can’t imagine standing in the batter’s box and watching a 100-mph hardball coming at me. Much less trying to figure out a way to get the bat on the ball.
I played in a Cincinnati Reds Fantasy Camp once, years ago, down in Plant City, Florida.
The last game each team played was against some of the old pros. Sammy Ellis, who played for the Reds and Orioles and then became a pitching coach was on the mound. He was one of the managers in our Fantasy Camp that year. I THINK he was throwing 65 maybe, and nobody could hit him. It was a joke.
Fun night at the ballpark hearing how loud the catcher’s mitt sounded Friday night.
SONG OF THE DAY
Since I'll be writing with Darin and Brooke Aldridge later this evening, here's a song I wrote with my friend Lisa Shaffer that the duo recorded titled "I Gotta Have Butterflies".
I heard a radio personality one morning here in Nashville who was talking to his daughter about why she didn't have a guy in her life yet. And the daughter told her Dad, "I gotta have butterflies" before falling in love with someone. I thought that has song possibilities, and I'm glad my instincts were correct. Check out the song at the link above. Listen to that first, then watch THIS VIDEO of a little girl belting out our song in the backseat of car.
HOW WAS YOUR MOTHER’S DAY?
One Mom tweeted this over the weekend.
I love that Mother’s Day is before Father’s Day. This way, my husband sets the bar for how we’ll celebrate him next month.
Spoiler alert: He’s getting a card, the kids will make him burnt toast, and I’ll be taking a nap.
PASS ME BY
We lost country star Johnny Rodriguez over the weekend. I was sorry to read that news. I was a fan. I don’t know how many times I sang his hit “Pass Me By” with my band back in Missouri years ago. That hit was written by the great Tom T. Hall's brother. And Tom T was responsible for Johnny becoming a star...getting him his recording contract on Mercury Records.
Right before I wrapped up my radio career, I got to interview Johnny on WSM radio in Nashville. His wife and his daughter Aubry were with him that day. He could not have been more fun. He told me he had a great Tom T. Hall story, and then when he started to tell the story, he got lost and rambled for 5 minutes without ever mentioning Tom T. I interrupted him at one point and asked, “Is Tom T Hall in this story?”. And that busted the room up. It's a really funny radio interview. And I'm happy to share the interview HERE after WSM producer Charlie Mattos was nice enough to send me this yesterday. It made me laugh big time getting to hear this again.
His daughter Aubry is a great singer, and she did a great thing by re-recording her Dad’s hit “Pass Me By” as a duo with Vinny Tovar.
RIP. And thanks for the great music and the memories Johnny.
HEALTH NOTES
The U.S now has over 1,000 cases of the measles spread out in 30 states.
The FDA has approved the first at home test to screen for cervical cancer.
President Trump is saying he’s going to slash the cost of prescription drugs by as much as 80% in the US. (May lay off buying stock in pharmaceutical companies for a bit…just in case.)
HERE’S YOUR SIGN
Someone stole this sign off a bench in Nashville’s Centennial Park. Don’t ask me why. Big fan I’m guessing. One comment someone posted was interesting and maybe accurate. “Worst part will be the song she writes about it.”
SPEAKING OF SIGNS
There are some really weird ones scattered across our country. Here are 3 of those…all for real.
Toad Suck Road in Conway, Arkansas
Windy Butte Way in Las Vegas
And Haviture Way Road at Eagle Mt in Utah.
But this one below is my favorite.
WEDDING BELLS
It is wedding season. And it’s expensive. Those who know say the AVERAGE cost of tossing a wedding is over $30,000 now.
When I was on the radio in Cincinnati, we offered to marry a couple for free at a White Castle as part of a radio promotion. My producer got a preacher’s license, and we did just that one morning “live” on the air. It was a LOT cheaper for them. And no, we did not throw those mini-burgers at the couple as they left the building.
BABY NAMES
After the weddings come babies. And here’s the list of the most popular baby names from last year. Top 5 for girls are:
5…Mia
4…Charlotte
3…Amelia
2…Emma
And the most popular girl’s name last year was Olivia.
The top 5 boy names are:
5…James
4…Theodore
3…Oliver
2…Noah
And the most popular boy’s name last year was Liam.
William came in #10 for boys. I’m in the running!
LITTLE KNOWN FACT
Did you know it would take 1.2 million mosquitoes to drain an adult human of their blood? Me neither. But as we near mosquito season, I’m more confident about staying outside a little longer now.
YUGO
Remember those cheap little cars? Beloved in Europe it was ridiculed here in the states and the butt of a lot of comedian jokes.
Car Talk and others called it one of the worst cars ever. But guess what? It’s making a comeback.
This new one will cost around $18,000 and should be on the market next year.
My cost-cutting idea for today is to get married at White Castle and tie tin cans to a Yugo. You’re welcome.
HEADLINE OF THE DAY
Miami Porsche Driver Shoots Motorist In Foot For Taking Too Long Backing Into A Tight Spot. (Things that make you go what?!)
TODAY
My songwriting appointment will be this evening with my North Carolina friends Darin and Brooke Aldridge. They’ve appeared on the Grand Ole Opry once again since I’ve seen them last, and won an award for “Best Bluegrass Single”. I’ll be saying “congrats” to them before we start working on a new song.
Have a great Monday!
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