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Blast On The Bay...Iron Woman..."The Road"

BILL BLOG

Friday October 17, 2025

 

Friday morning from beautiful Port St. Joe, Florida, home of the “Blast On The Bay” songwriters festival. It will be mostly sunny with a high of 83 today here on the Gulf Coast.



 

YESTERDAY

I made a little 500-mile trip from Nashville down here to Port St. Joe. Yep, it’s a bit of a haul. But I got down here safely, checked into a little house that the festival provided, and then got my credentials



 

This is the 15th annual “Blast on the Bay”, and I’ve played all of them except for the first one and last year’s. So, this would be my 13th year as a songwriter. This one is more of a boutique festival, meaning there aren't a huge number of songwriters. And that means as I see a lot of old friends, and a lot of creative folks, many of whom I collaborate with in Nashville.



 

Last night, they kicked off the festival with their traditional shrimp boil. Shrimp, sausage, corn on the cob, potatoes, and a busy bar. So good. And man, the weather.



 

So pretty, and especially so when the sun starts to sink.



 

It’s a pleasure being back down here in Port St. Joe. My first show is at noon today. More on that at the end of today’s blog.


 




SONG OF THE DAY

Since I’m down here on the coast with one of “Hits and Grins” partners, Victoria Venier, I’m sharing “In Memphis,” a song we wrote in the car together with Steve Dean on a trip to Little Rock while we were stuck in traffic in Memphis. We were looking at downtown Memphis out the left window, and the huge Bass Pro outside our right window. And the song just fell out. We performed it THAT night in concert, and it went over big-time, so we knew we had something.


 

 

The trio recorded the song, as did Jeannie Kendall of the old country duo “The Kendalls”, and the TnT duo featuring Victoria and her talented friend Tabitha Fair also recorded this song. When you click on the link above, you will hear the TnT version, complete with horns! The girls just rocked it.

 


HEALTH NOTES

Consumer Reports just found lead in 16 popular protein powders. That can’t be good.

 

New research suggests that quitting smoking may be good for your brain, even if you stop later in life.

 

There is also some new research that suggests that Ibuprofen, commonly used for headaches, may also have anti-cancer properties.

 

HERE’S YOUR SIGN



 

THIS MAKES ME TIRED

An 80-year-old Grandma just became the oldest woman to finish the grueling Ironman World Championship, which took place in Hawaii over the weekend. Natalie Grabow ran 26.2 miles, biked 112 miles, and swam 2.4 miles in the ocean. It took her 16 hours and 45 minutes. At the age of 80! Wow.



 

Has this woman not heard of pickleball?!

 

WHO KNEW

In Germany, it’s okay to hike naked. Uh huh. They even have designated “naked trails” for you to hike without your clothes if you’re so inclined. As long as they don’t “polka” naked…I’m okay with that. I think.

 

EINSTEIN…NOT!

How about the guy in California who put together a handmade license plate and stuck it on the back of his car? True. Guess what happened? Yep. Pulled over…arrested. The jail he went to was not handmade.



 

LEG ROOM

Southwest Airlines has announced it will now have sections on its new planes that have more leg room. The seats will be cozier, and they will have USB ports. All good news.



 

Now if they could make NON reclining seats…that would really rock.

 

TODAY’S QUOTE

From Fran Lebowitz:

“In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as Algebra.”

 

Could not agree more.

 

TODAY

It’s day one here at the Blast on the Bay Songwriter Festival. I play at noon today (eastern time) with Victoria Venier and young singer-songwriter Brooks Huntley, whom I will be meeting and hearing for the first time. We’ll be playing at one of our favorite venues down here, The Lookout Lounge. The owners are passionate about songwriters and go out of their way to make sure their venue is a true listening room experience, which makes for a better experience not only for the writers, but for the audience as well…and we do appreciate that.

 

Looking forward to playing, and then hearing some of my friends play at their shows as well.

 

THE WEEKEND

I’m looking forward to watching my friend and co-writer on the new CBS talent contest “The Road” this Sunday evening. On this show, the contestants will be singing “original” songs, and Jenny is going to be singing a song we wrote together with her husband Dave Brainard, “I Know Some Cowboys”. Go Jenny!



 

I’m here in Port St. Joe through Sunday, and then I move over to Gulf Shores for the Parrot Head Festival MOTM all of next week.



 

Have yourself a great weekend!

 

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