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Solo Writing...Happy Birthday...RIP Rodriguez

BILL BLOG

Wednesday August 9, 2023


Full tilt boogie into a Wednesday we go. And once again we have weather that’s not good rolling in tonight and lasting through some of tomorrow. High winds, rain, possible tornado…all the good stuff. Man we’ve had our share of that this summer. 86 for the high here today.

 

YESTERDAY

With nothing on my books yesterday I found myself with enough time to finish up a song idea that was sitting on my computer and turned it into my publisher and then also pitched it to a female bluegrass artist who’s looking for tunes right now. Most days I co-write with someone, but when I have a cancellation or a day open I try to remind myself to still sit down and write something on my own. Good exercise. Almost every song of mine that’s been recorded by someone, or even by myself have been written with other folks. But I did write this song “Blue Ain’t Just A Color” by Kristy Cox by my lonesome so I try to remind myself it is possible to land a song written solo. So I’m quietly hoping a little magic like that could happen to what I created yesterday. We’ll see.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

In Minnesota today my youngest sister Rita who celebrates another year. My other sister Vickie was kind enough to remind me that the Quilt Queen of the Free World is blowing out candles again. Rita is a pro quilt maker and folks from everywhere seek her out to make quilts for them. I can’t fold a towel correctly much less even think about making a danged quilt. But if you need one?  She’s your girl.  Happy Birthday sis!


 

 

MEANWHILE
One Mega Million ticket worth 1.65 BILLION was sold to somebody in Florida. My brother Gary and his wife Kay live in Florida. So this morning I’m hoping I’ve been REALLY nice to them in the past…just in case.

 

SPEAKING OF CO-WRITES

The new Scott Southworth CD is available by pre-order right now. Scott is a great “true country” traditional artist and we co-wrote two of the songs that you can see here on the back cover. “Country No Matter WhatCountry” and “Everything I Never Knew”. So if you like traditional?  Pre-order Scott’s project. 


 

 

AND THEN

Jessie Ritter, a female artist who lives in Pensacola and tours the country with her husband, little boy and soon a new arrival sent me this picture she’s using to promote her new single “Gone To See America” that will be out this Friday. This song was written with Jessie and my friend Steve Dean and hits home for Jessie because she and her husband load up a mini-van semi regularly and go play across the country. So there’s a lot of truth in this little traveling song and I’ll be able to share it with you Friday.


 

 

BLUEBIRD

Check out this brand new Miranda Lambert “Bluebird” guitar made for her by the Gibson Guitar company. It’s her first signature guitar and what a beauty she is. 


 

 

I never quite got for a long while why so many songwriters and musicians had SO many guitars. Now my room is getting full of them. And I’ve learned the hard way why so many folks hang on to their guitars and don’t sell them. I wish like crazy I had held on to two guitars of mine.  


 

 

One was a cheap Silvertone guitar that my Mom ordered for herself right out of the old Sears & Roebuck catalog. She never really learned to play it. Piano was her instrument. But I did and it changed my life. So it’s obvious why I wish I had that one tucked away here in the house somewhere.


 

 

The second one is a Gibson Hummingbird I purchased near my hometown in Missouri in a little guitar shop. A Gibson Hummingbird. Brand new in like 1968 or 69. The guitar is iconic with the Gibson brand. It would be worth several bucks if I had just held onto it. The things you learn after the fact. I’m hoping Santa will bring another one some Christmas morning.


 

 

SAD MUSIC NEWS

I read this morning that the artist Rodriguez has passed away at the age of 81. Known as “Sugar Man” to many. Rodriguez has the most starting true story of a musician and songwriter. I knew nothing about him and then stumbled across the documentary “In Search of Sugarman”. When I finished watching it that night I was so stunned by the story I asked my wife to come up to the TV room and watch it with me. The short of it is…this man was living in Detroit doing menial work while not knowing he was a HUGE star in parts of the world…especially in South Africa. His journey back to the stage is just incredible to see. If you’ve not seen this, I could not recommend a movie more. You just won’t believe this guy’s true and unlikely story. I think you can still find the full movie on Prime, but it's on You Tube for sure.



 

 

RIP “Sugarman”.

 

VALUABLE MICROPHONE

The rap artist Cardi B hurled a microphone into a crowd in Vegas recently. Don’t ask me. The sound guy got the mic back and put it up for sale on eBay. Guess how much it fetched?  $99,000. To his credit he took about 900 out of that to pay for that microphone and is giving the rest to charity.

 

So the lesson here is, if you come to a show of mine and I throw a microphone at you?  It won’t bring you a dime if you grab it and put it up on eBay.

 

HEALTH NOTES

Top public health officials admit that COVID-19 has not gone away. But in England officials there say the routine booster shots will not be offered to healthy under 65 year old folks. They are being restricted to those at “high serious risk” only.

 

Meanwhile, officials are saying COVID cases are up 50% recently in NYC and are warning folks about the new variant.

 

A 101 year old woman from Mason, Ohio says the key to long life is to keep moving and having friends to hang with. She should know. She still drives, still works part time cutting up fabric, eats whatever she wants, AND she’s a cancer survivor.

 

RELATIONSHIP JOKE

A wife said this. “I never knew true happiness until I got married. Then it was too late”.

 

Or how about this one from a former husband.

 

“I tried to remarry my ex. She figured out I was only after my money”.

 

MORE PRIME TIME

Amazon Prime Days makes a TON of money for Jeff Bezos and company. Proved by the extra 12 billion he just pocketed recently. Now Amazon is going to have Prime Big Deal Days for two days this October.

 

Then I guess we can expect “Mo Prime Days” in November and “Christmas Prime” in December.

 

MR. OR MRS. SUBWAY

Over 10,000 folks say they would change their name to Subway if chosen in that Subway contest. The winner changes their name and gets free Subway sandwiches for the rest of their live. Not my thing. I signed up for the “Cracker Barrel” contest instead. Mr. Cracker Barrel has a nice ring to it doesn’t it?

 

TODAY

With nothing of significance on the calendar today I have to go look for another job as somehow once again my lotto ticket had the wrong numbers on it. Sigh.

 

Have a great Wednesday!

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