Thursday Things

1. Andy started it (posting pics of spring flowers, etc. around his place) and Buck joined in with some shots of his cottonwood detritus, plus his nekkid foot. We will not be outdone here at the Post. First, the dogwood by our driveway looks really nice this year. And you can see our neighbors' redbud tree in the background.

Spring in TN is never just pretty flowers and budding trees. Sometimes the wind blows really hard. One of the few remaining locusts got leaned over by the strong wind in the middle of the day last weekend. The wind, which the newspaper said featured gusts over 60 mph, and the thick rain created a wall of blowing water. From our back upstairs window, I couldn't even see the garage which is only about 20 feet from our house. The top of the tree's limbs are only a few inches from our power line, so I'll have to hire somebody to cut it down. $$$$

Our azaleas popped out earlier this week. They don't last long, but they are gorgeous.

2. At the college in Gallatin, TN, where Joyce and I worked for thirty years, there's a building called the Wood Campus Center. It's named for Randy Wood, founder of the famous Randy's Record Shop and Dot Records. Mr. Wood was a major patron and contributor to the college.

The Tennessean reports today that Mr. Wood is dead at 94. And believe it or not (Buck, take note) there is apparently no wiki bio for this very influential man. The Tennessean obit I linked to above gives a good bit of his life though, if you're interested in the man who gave Pat Boone his start. Actually, Mr. Wood did much more than that. This article, "Randy Wood: The Dot Records Story," provides a more in depth look at what he accomplished from his little mail order record shop in Gallatin, TN, starting in the late '40s. He was more than the guy who got white artists to cover black songs. If you like Rhythm and Blues, read this article and see how important this man was in moving black artists and R&B itself into the mainstream. Here's a pic of Mr. Wood with the singing group The Hilltoppers (their biggest hit was "P.S. I Love You").