The Homeplace: A Few Living Room Pics

Nashful R the 18th Most Litirature Siti in U.S.

This heres a post by Dapper Dan's friend, Lester Ledbetter.

Well, I never. This here study was riggered or they measured the wrong dam things. Cause us who live in Nashful (which is a siti full of the smart assedest rednecks ina worl) come up short behind dumb Nawlins an ignurant Hatlanta and that dammed buncha brain dead commie hippies outn Seetle. Kin u beeleeve they wuz first? Butt we wuz twices smart as them New Yawk yokuls which I already knowed anniway. Lika poate says, jez gimme canna sardines, a six pack, anna camo colored mossberg pump anna I'll be in hoage heaven. Onliest Ida thrown in a copy of that there playbuoy magazeene withn alla pictyures.

Our fair siti...

Resadent of Nashful as purseeved by Yankees and Hippy Blu Staters...

Will This End In Tears?

"All the bottles are already empty, the cigarettes burned to their core...." Damn I love a good honky tonk song. Smoky bar, a jukebox, people sittin' around drinkin'...What's that you say? Losers? Nope. Not in my opinion. I don't see losers. I see a bunch of people who've been screwed. And that my friend is everybody. Everybody at one time or another has got the shaft. Right? That's why these songs always have universal appeal and never go out of style.

Coming back home late last night, we had the car radio tuned to WSM-AM and heard the most knowledgeable man in Country Music play this song. That would be the great Eddie Stubbs and this is the "Belleville Outfit" with "Will This End in Tears" from their new album, Time to Stand. Phoebe Hunt is the husky voiced lead vocalist.

Nanny Nation

Cartoons by Lisa Benson

If the Shoe Fits, Wear It...On Your Face?

Almost a year after implementing his reach out to the Muslim World policies, President Obama will soon be visiting Indonesia. If this visit can be viewed as a test of that policy's effectiveness, the early signs indicate that the policy is not working. Many in Indonesia, especially students, are obviously still unhappy with the President and the U.S.

As you can see in the photo, Obama is the target and shoes are the recommended missile.

An Islamic journalist in Iraq was jailed for throwing his shoes at President George Bush during his last months in office. About that incident Robert Dougherty says, "In Muslim culture, throwing a shoe at someone is one of the greatest insults imaginable. Islamic culture teaches Muslims to remove their shoes before taking sanctuary in a mosque, and to avoid pointing their feet or showing soles.Whereas shoe-throwing would be shrugged off as a comical act in America, in the Muslin world, it has already emerged as an important symbolic protest. Shoe throwing was also used when Saddam Hussain's statue was toppled after he was overthrown."

As the last picture shows, some students are putting more into it than their shoes...

Crazy Heart: Bridges and Bingham

Have you seen the movie Crazy Heart yet? It stars Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake, a down and out, aging, boozing country singer whose relationship with a young mother and her son help him begin the long road back to sobriety. We saw the movie a couple of weeks ago with friends and afterwards over a brick fired pizza and beer, talked about it at length. We all agreed that it was Jeff Bridges' greatest performance and definitely Oscar worthy. Well, the Oscar question has now definitely been settled--Bridges won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of Bad Blake.

Although we questioned the casting of Maggie Gyllenhaal as Bridges' love interest, we enjoyed Crazy Heart's mostly linear narrative (aren't you tired of the current tendency to overuse and constantly blur the past and present with confusing and vaguely delineated flashbacks?), and its deliberate pacing, as well as the performances of the other actors, especially Robert Duvall, who was, as usual, excellent. We were especially keen on the songs Bad Blake sings--Country, but with something of an Americana vibe. We learned from reading about the movie earlier that Bridges performed all the songs himself.

The movie's theme song also won an Oscar. This award was given to T Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham for their collaboration on "The Weary Kind." You've heard of T Bone before; he's provided soundtracks for many movies including the Coen brothers great comedy O Brother Where Art Thou? I'm not sure, but I think T Bone's role with this song involved taking something already written by Bryan Bingham and producing and massaging it a bit for the movie. If I'm wrong about this, let me know.

I had never heard of Ryan Bingham before, but from what I've seen of him, he's a promising young singer songwriter. His gravelly, experience worn voice belies his youthful image. But if you check out Ryan's bio, you'll find he's had some pretty rough going himself.

As I said earlier, Bridges does a great job singing the song himself, but I've chosen to play the songwriter's version here. Readers, tell me what you think about Bryan Bingham's rendition of his own song, "The Weary Kind."



P.S. We enjoyed Bridges brief and humble acceptance speech at the Oscars as he acknowledged the importance of his family especially his actor father Lloyd in his own development. Lloyd Bridges is best known in some circles as the star of Sea Hunt, a TV series in the sixties. In my circle he's best known for his excellent performance in the role of Deputy Harvey Pell in High Noon with Gary Cooper who plays Marshal Will Kane. Grace Kelly is in the movie too as Marshal Kane's Quaker bride.

Lloyd Bridges' character Pell is the current lover of  saloon owner Helen Ramirez (beautiful, smoldering Katy Juardo) who had a close relationship with Marshal Kane in the past. Bridges shows his acting skills when he's shamed by Juardo's character with this line: "You're a good-looking boy: you've big, broad shoulders. But he's a man. And it takes more than big, broad shoulders to make a man."  If you own a dvd of this great movie, take a look at that scene again; "shame" is among the most difficult emotions for an actor to demostrate.

Risata Molto

Risata Molto...Italian for "laugh much." I hope you have many "risatas" today and may this be one of them.

If you saw Godspell the movie or the musical it was based on back in the early 1970's, you'll appreciate this photoshopped poster even more.

As Time Goes By

It's almost the middle of March already. Time slips away. Memories fade. But the human story stays the same. Guess I'm in a Casablanca mood.

It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die
The world will always welcome lovers

Cornelia Fort: From Debutante to Airwoman

Have you ever heard of Cornelia Fort? She was an original member of the WAFS (Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron) in WWII who later became known as the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (the WASPS).

Today those women, at least the few who survive, were finally awarded the Congressional Gold Medal honoring their service in WWII.

Fort didn't survive. In fact, PBS's the "American Experience" website says that "a mid-air collision would tragically make her the first American woman to die on active military duty." That was in 1943 in Texas where she was on a mission ferrying a BT13 to Love Field . See a pic of a BT13 below (I realize this plane could be the similar but different engined BT15). The BT13's and 15's wer built by the Vultee corporation and were known among the pilots who flew them as Vultee Vibrators, a nickname indicating their most pronounced characteristic in flight). 

Cornelia Fort was born in 1919, the same year as my mother. Mom, who died last year at the age of 89, had many fears. Flying was one of them. She was was terrified of flying (she never flew during her entire lifetime) and the idea of piloting a plane was not even in her universe.

Mom's brother (my uncle), however, flew Corsairs in the Pacific in WWII. Needless to say, she worried constantly about him, and later, about my Dad who was drafted into the Army Air Corps in 1944.

According to PBS, the idea "that Fort should one day put on a flight suit, live in army barracks and fly some of the largest and fastest military aircraft of the day, would probably have raised more than a few eyebrows in the genteel circles in which she was raised. Dr. Rufus Fort and his wife Louise had brought up their oldest daughter to be the demure wife of a Southern gentleman. Their five children grew up in an opulent 24-room house originally built in 1815. It stood on 365 acres of land along the Cumberland River in Davidson County, Tennessee. A chauffeur drove the children to their exclusive private schools. And after Cornelia turned 19 her father presented her to society in an elaborate debutante ball, attended by hundreds."

As this picture shows, she was a beautiful young woman, and, as a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, she could easily have moved into the social circles her father had opened for her. But Cornelia had other ideas. After her father took her flying one day, she was hooked. And, according to Rainey, "Within two years, Cornelia had earned both her pilot and instructor licenses. She soloed for the first time on April 27, 1940 [For What It's Worth Dept: her solo took place in Nashville on the exact day yours truly was born in Baptist Hospital there], received a private pilot's license on June 19, 1940, and earned an instructor's rating on March 10, 1941. She became a flight instructor for the Massey and Rawson Flying Service, Fort Collins, Colorado, taking part in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) and later that year moved to Hawaii and continued working as a flight instructor there."

PBS's American Experience picks up the story. "On December 7th, 1941 Cornelia Fort, a young civilian flight instructor from Tennessee, and her regular Sunday-morning student took off from John Rodgers Airport in Honolulu. Fort's apprentice was advanced enough to fly regular take-offs and landings and this was to have been his last lesson before going solo. With the novice at the controls, Fort noticed a military aircraft approaching from the sea. At first that didn't strike her as unusual; Army planes were a common sight in the skies above Hawaii. But at the last moment, she realized this aircraft was different and that it had set itself on a collision course with her plane. She wrenched the controls from her student's grasp and managed to pull the plane up just in time to avoid a mid-air crash. As she looked around she saw the red sun symbol on the wings of the disappearing plane and in the distance, probably not more than a quarter mile away, billowing smoke was rising over Pearl Harbor. The disbelieving Fort had just unwittingly witnessed the U.S. entry into World War II."

Rainey says, "This scene is immortalized in Jeff Donell's epic movie Tora Tora Tora."

A little over a year later, in 1943, Fort was dead, killed in that tragic crash near Love Field in Texas.

Later in 1945, a small airport was opened near her family's estate. The airport was named in her honor. This airport is less than a mile from where my Mom and Dad made their home in the 1970's and 80's.

Mom knew about Cornelia Fort, had read about her in the newspaper. As I said, Mom never flew, but she knew about courage and she admired what Fort had done. And several times on a warm Sunday afternoon when my family was visiting, we'd ride down to the little airport to read the historical marker honoring Fort's service and to watch the private aircraft landing and taking off.

Obama Is Taking Us All Down the Jimbo Carter Expressway

Play "Misty" for Me

Who's this? Oh you. You want that song again. It didn't win an Oscar, you know. Neither did the movie... I know, I know. You can't hear it anymore without getting a little scared. You see Jessica Walter with the knife..No I don't have the Johnny Mathis version. But even if I did, I wouldn't play it. Cause I like this one, the Julie London one...No, I'm not Jack Webb's ghost...Why Julie London then? Well, if you gotta ask, you'll never know.

The Oscars 50 years Ago

Go back fifty years with me. In 1960, movies were really movies and stars were really stars. It's trite I know and a cliche. But in that time and before, the stories told and the actors who conveyed those stories seemed larger than life, literally. In a close up shot on the huge screen at the front of the theater, the star's face was as big as a god's...

The following list is from the great film info source, AMC Filmsite, written and edited by Tim Dirks...

The Oscar nominees and winners from the year 1960...50 years ago.

Winners are listed first and are in all capitals...

Best Picture Nominees:
"THE APARTMENT," "The Alamo," "Elmer Gantry," "Sons and Lovers," "The Sundowners"

Actor:

BURT LANCASTER in "Elmer Gantry", Trevor Howard in "Sons and Lovers", Jack Lemmon in "The Apartment", Laurence Olivier in "The Entertainer", Spencer Tracy in "Inherit the Wind"

Actress:

ELIZABETH TAYLOR in "Butterfield 8", Greer Garson in "Sunrise at Campobello", Deborah Kerr in "The Sundowners", Shirley MacLaine in "The Apartment", Melina Mercouri in "Never on Sunday"

Supporting Actor:

PETER USTINOV in "Spartacus", Peter Falk in "Murder, Inc.", Jack Kruschen in "The Apartment", Sal Mineo in "Exodus", Chill Wills in "The Alamo"

Supporting Actress:

SHIRLEY JONES in "Elmer Gantry", Glynis Johns in "The Sundowners", Shirley Knight in "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs", Janet Leigh in "Psycho", Mary Ure in "Sons and Lovers"

Director:

BILLY WILDER for "The Apartment", Jack Cardiff for "Sons and Lovers", Jules Dassin for "Never on Sunday", Alfred Hitchcock for "Psycho", Fred Zinnemann for "The Sundowners"