BILL BLOG
Friday September 22, 2023
Here comes another September weekend. Friday with a high of 86 on tap today in Music City.
YESTERDAY
I had a great morning of writing with my Pennsylvania friend Troy Engle online yesterday. I brought a start to a song, and so did Troy so we had a 2 for 1 morning and still had plenty of time to catch up. Troy is head to the IBMA convention…the huge bluegrass gathering and awards show down in Raleigh, North Carolina that runs all next week. You won’t be able to swing a hat without hitting a banjo down there. All the great groups and players will be there for shows and seminars and the annual awards show. Every year I keep thinking this will be the year I go. I’ve been asked to be on a panel more than once, so I’m hopefully going to make it down next year.
Troy will be playing a show for his record label Pinecastle and I’m sure he’ll be doing our song “Back Home” as that song is his current single. And he’ll be teaching a class while he’s there. Talented guy and can play every string instrument well. Always a pleasure creating with Troy.
LAST NIGHT
I went to Nashville Sounds baseball game last night as this is their last home stand of the season. Hard to believe the season is already wrapping up.
Two seats away from me last night was a woman sitting alone watching the game as I was. We struck up a conversation and I found out she is the widow of former major league umpire Chuck Merriwether. And for the rest of the evening I heard some wonderful stories about her husband.
Both of them are from Nashville. And the dressing room at the stadium here in named in his honor. That’s how beloved he was. He umpired an All Star game and he umpired two World Series…both Boston Red Sox Series. And he was behind the plate the night Boston finally clinched their first ever World Series.
I told her I once played in a celebrity baseball game with Joe Torre who played for the Cardinals when I grew up and then managed the Yanks to a World Series win or two. She showed me a picture of Joe Torre standing between her husband and an irate Yankee player who was upset at a ball-strike call Chuck made. And then she proceeded to tell me how Joe Torre called her husband when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and helped get him into MDA Anderson in Houston…the very best place to be if one has cancer. She felt like they prolonged his life a few more years.
And she showed me yet another picture of Hall of Fame manager Tony LaRussa face to face with her husband on the field.
When her husband passed, Major League Baseball held a moment of silence for him at the World Series game that year.
You just never know who you might meet at a ballpark. It was a pleasure to meet Rita Merriwether. I could not have enjoyed a conversation more.
TOM HANKS “GONE COUNTRY”
Of all folks, Tom Hanks has just started a traditional online country radio station that you can stream. It was launched on the 100th birthday of Hank Williams just a few days ago and it’s the “real” stuff country as that’s what Tom loves. His wife Rita Wilson has sung on the Grand Ole Opry stage a couple of times and Tom has been there to root her on.
A sample of what’s Tom's radio station has been playing would include Hank, George Jones, Ray Price, Wanda Jackson and even some Homer & Jethro. The station is called Country A-Go-Go and you can find it wherever you stream.
I’m hoping that Forrest Gump will be one of the announcers.
HEALTH NOTES
A new study says that exercise not only benefits the health of our bodies but also our brains. Now I just have to convince my brain to convince me to do a few sit-ups for me to get it healthier.
The CDC says in the U.S., a person has a stroke every 40 seconds. Doctors say the symptoms to be aware of are numbness, slurred speech, difficulty understanding others, confusion, double vision, loss of balance, dizziness, intense headache, memory loss and loss of consciousness.
Cracker Barrel reports that since COVID their 65 plus customers have still not returned to the same numbers they had before COVID. Same for Olive Garden and some other restaurants. The thinking is the Seniors first stayed away because of health reasons and now they’re staying away because of inflation. Yep. If you’ve checked a menu price at almost anywhere? It could make you sick.
MALE LOGIC
If a man says he’s going to fix it, he will. There’s no need to remind him every six months.
APPLE
You may want to avoid the Apple stores today as lines have already formed at some to be the first in line to get the new iPhone 15 that’s out today. I just got a 13…how can I already be 2 behind?
WORST TRAFFIC
According to the folks who know about traffic here are the top 10 worst cities for traffic. I would have guessed New York or LA for the worst but that’s not the case.
10 Atlanta (And I would have thought that city would be in the top 2 or 3)
9 Houston
8 LA
7 New Orleans
6 San Francisco
5 Miami
4 Boston
3 Philadelphia
2 New York City
And sitting at number one for worst traffic is Chicago. (Traffic AND toll roads!)
A BUSINESS MAN LIES HERE
TODAY
I’m writing with former American Idol star Janelle Arthur this morning with our mutual friend Gerald Smith who is finally able to get back to the songwriting table after a very long battle with his health. So I’m looking very forward to seeing and writing with him and Janelle today.
Have a great weekend!
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