BILL BLOG
Tuesday March 11, 2025
Tuesday morning in Music City USA. And man has Spring done sprung. 78 for a high today in Nashville.
YESTERDAY
Monday turned out to be a day of re-charging after a long road trip over this past weekend to Texas and back with Linda Davis and Lang Scott for those two “Evening in the Round” shows we did. I knew I was tired but didn’t know HOW tired until I woke up from a 4-hour nap yesterday. Geez.
I also spent part of Monday working on three different songs that I’ve written with veterans for Freedom Sings USA. More on that at the end of today’s Blog.
IDOL
My wife and I sat on the couch last night and watched the first round of auditions on American Idol. Carrie Underwood is a judge this year with Luke Bryan and Lionel Ritchie. What a feeling it must be for her to return to where her career started when she was just a young nobody from Oklahoma.
Watching, I was struck again by how many great young singers there are in this country all hoping to be discovered.
When I was growing up in Missouri making music with my band or my brothers in a trio there was no “Voice” or “Idol” or TV competitions. Instead, I found myself entering “Battle of the Bands” contest. Even when you win one of those as we did…you don’t quite impact as many people as the contestants do on TV shows.
And the worst was when my brothers and I entered the Missouri State Fair talent competition. We sang “Tom Dooley” by the Kingston Trio as I recall and got beat by a bunch of young baton twirlers who kept dropping their batons! So maybe it was a good thing that American Idol did not exist back then.
SONG OF THE DAY
I forgot to mention it yesterday but my long-time friend Brent Burns down in Gulf Shores blew out birthday candles again. Happy Happy Birthday.
With that in mind, I’m choosing another song we wrote together “My Jukebox On The Beach” which is all about what songs Brent would put on his Wurlitzer down in Gulf Shores. This was the title track to one of his albums and that particular album won “Album of the Year” at the Trop Rock Awards in Key West a few years ago. Enjoy.
HITS AND GRINS SURPRISE
My friend Victoria Venier who is part of “Hits & Grins” along with Steve Dean and myself found and then sent me this note.
Hits and Grins, It’s Pa Woodhams with the Student Loan Department. This is regarding your case number. We tried to contact you at your home and did not hear back. Your student loans have been flagged as possibly eligible for forgiveness under the new 2025 guidelines. Your file will remain open in my system for only one more day.
And then they left a phone number.
Now, each of us did some college time. But we did not enroll in any college together as “Hits & Grins”. But after all these years it’s so nice they’re going to give us some relief! The things that show up unexpectedly in your life.
HEALTH NOTES
A recent study says what most married men already know. Your partner’s good mood can make you feel happier as well. The old happy wife…happy life thing.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging, the average 65-year old has an almost 70% chance of needing some type of long-term care at some point, and 20% will such care for 5 years or more.
Utah says it will be the first state to ban fluoride from drinking water.
HERE’S YOUR SIGN
Pretty good trick if I can figure out how to pull that off.
X OUT
There was a massive cyberattack on the X platform yesterday owned by Elon Musk. If you “tweet” then you know. We certainly need it up and running because if not we would miss tweets like this one.
Pickleball is just ping pong for people who grunt when they stand up.
AUTHORS
So I write songs and my wife is about to release her first novel. I asked her
last night if authors have a semi-colon? And if so, do they have a
semi-colonoscopy once a year?
I think she laughed.
TARIFFS
Canada just increased the price of electricity by 25% for those in New York, Minnesota and Michigan. I have a sister who lives in Minnesota. Can’t imagine she’s going to like seeing that first bill with that kind of price increase arrives. But at least the stock market dived by over 900 points yesterday so we’ve got that going for us. No wonder some people never read the news. In the words of Ray Stevens, “Don’t Look Ethel”!
FUNNY
A 4-year-old boy in Wisconsin called 911 after he found out his Mom ate his ice cream. Now that’s what I call a good excuse for calling the cops!
When the dispatcher answered the call the kid said, “Come and get my Mama”.
TORNADOES
It’s that season. Nashville is on the alert for some high-wind weather this week. Central Florida got hit by a tornado yesterday. It even hit a TV station in the middle of their broadcast. It reminded me of the time I was on air at KPCR Radio in Bowling Green, Missouri when a tornado alert came through. Now keep in mind, I was like 19 years old broadcasting from this one-bedroom trailer radio station.
The radio was a sunrise to sunset 1,000-watt station which means you could only be on the air from sunrise to sunset. But when there’s an emergency, like a tornado you had permission to stay on the air longer to keep people informed.
My boss and General Manager at the time, the late Paul Salois called me from his home and told me I could stay on the air longer to cover the tornado. But he also told me that if I saw the tornado coming to get out and get in the ditch that ran along the highway there.
All these years later I realize a ditch is not a great shelter for a tornado. What was I thinking by staying on the air?! Turns out that the tornado touched down a few miles from the trailer and I have a memory of an exciting night being on the radio.
HEADLINE OF THE DAY
Star Wars Fan Says: “This Movie Would Be the Highlight of My Life…If I Had One.” (I don’t think the “force” is with that guy)
TODAY
I’m hanging out with Steve Dean today recording three songs for Freedom Sings USA. Three songs I’ve written with three separate veterans over the past few years. Later this year those songs will show up on an album that sells online and of course, each veteran will receive a pretty cool musical souvenir.
Have a great Tuesday!
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