Quickies

Starting this post on a rather serious note, I highly suggest you watch the episode of Frontline that airs tonight (8/31) on WETA (D.C. channel 26) tonight at nine. Poisoned Waters examines the problem of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound. I watched most of this program one night last week and found it interesting how far the clean up of the Potomac River has come in last 30 years. Yet, the modernizing of sewage treatment plants along the Potomac was just a first step in cleaning up the River and thus the Chesapeake. There is still a long way to go. If you can't watch or DVR the program tonight, you can watch it online here.

On a lighter note, I'm hoping, now that Jim Bowden is nothing but a bad memory to Nationals fans, that items like this one in the most recent Sports Illustrated stop popping up in the sports media. SI polled 380 Major League players asking them "Which player get the the least out of the most talent?". The top five includes two former Nationals and two current Nationals.

Finally, "J.D." sent me this link to a TV news story about a supposed 15 year old stripper and her very angry grandmother.

Friday Frolics, Volume 25: Three Champs and a Baby

One of In Living Color's more memorable sketches. For some reason, I don't think making fun of Muhammed Ali's condition would be as accepted today as it was when this shot back in the early 90s.

Quickies

Truly, this will be a quick post.

First, a Facebook "friend" of mine from college recently posted a link to this story on his Facebook page. I think I've been friended by far too many "The Let-Me-Tell-You-Every-Detail-of-My-Day Bore" types.

Second, according to USA Today, the NFL wants enact these rules to cut down on binge drinking and its related side effects at games. Right.......

Finally, this clip posted on YouTube has some great photos from this past Saturday's unveiling of Chuck Brown Way in D.C.

Friday Frolics, Volume 24: Southern Fried Rabbit

Those of you who are at least in your mid-30s probably remember the days when the Looney Tunes cartoons were a fixture on Saturday morning TV. And, there were plenty of other times you could watch Bugs, Daffy and the rest of the crew. Back in the 70s, no one seemed to worry if a cartoon was too violent or was politically incorrect (geez, that term didn't even exist back then). In the years since, things have changed mightily. First, the Looney Tunes were stripped of their playful brand of violence. Then, the more politically incorrect cartoons vanished from the airwaves. And finally, the Looney Tunes disappeared altogether from any major TV outlets. (The reasons behind that are fodder for an entirely different post.)

While being semi-comatose after a long day of work last week, it dawned on me I hadn't seen the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Southern Fried Rabbit" in years. It was one of the Bugs cartoons that disappeared sometime between the time I turned 13 and the time I graduated from college. Of course, the cartoon was both violent and politically incorrect. It starts with Bugs facing a carrot famine up north and deciding to schlep to Alabama where a record carrot harvest is taking place. I'll let you pick up the story from there when you watch the uncut cartoon which is included below.

But first, I have a related story. My cousin Tim and I lived together through most the 90s. One weekend during that time, the Cartoon Network aired a weekend long Looney Tunes Marathon. Tim taped every minute of the marathon in an attempt to get "Southern Fried Rabbit" on tape. Tim ended up finding that it aired at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday, but he was very disappointed to find that roughly half the cartoon was not aired. All the scenes of Yosemite Sam getting blasted on were gone and another minute long scene from the middle of it were gone. Once you watch the cartoon, you'll know exactly what minute I'm talking about. Then, you can make your own decision...is this cartoon a piece of art lost to political correctness or is it a product of an era that's best forgotten? I think the regular readers know what I think.

Midweek Time Killers: Elvis, Billy Lee and the Beach

First off, how could I let the 32nd anniversary of Elvis Presley's death go unmentioned this week? Of course, whoever wrote this wants you to believe The King of Rock and Roll is still very much alive. And, I thought the story about Elvis' long lost twin brother still being alive that I mention in this travel blog post was a little out there.

Second, rockabilly pioneer and overall wild man, Billy Lee Riley, died a couple of weeks back (August 2nd). I'm hoping to do a post on him in the near future, but in the meantime this lengthy interview with him covers most all of his career.

Third, it seems every year some local media outlet runs a story on the supposed debauchery that takes place in Dewey Beach and the locals' effort to stop it. The latest installment comes in this Washington City Paper article.

Finally, if you are really bored at work, you can check out the happnenings on the Ocean City, Maryland boardwalk on this Boardwalk Beach Cam.

Quickies

I'm starting to think I should post weekly links to Dave McKenna's weekly "Cheap Seats" column in the Washington City Paper. McKenna seems to have it in for Dan Snyder and his money grubbing tactics more than I do. McKenna's latest column focuses on Snyder's use of adding "parking fees" to ticket prices for non-Redskin events at FedEx field.

The Washington Nationals announced recently the team had made a record breaking offer to Stephen Strasburg, the number one overall pick in this year's amateur baseball draft. That would mean the offer is more than the $10.5 million the Cubs gave to Mark Prior in 2001. I bolded amateur above to indicate Strasburg has never thrown a pitch above the college level. Still, his agent, Scott Boras, thinks Strasburg is worthy of the type of money paid to established veterans, although Boras may be the only one who believes that. I think many true Nationals fans, and I'm one of them, are to the point where it wouldn't bother us if the Nationals tell Boras and Strasburg to f**k off. Nationals color commentator Rob Dibble had this to say directly to Strasburg via Dibble's MASN blog and I think it summarizes the siutation fairly well. (Dibble reiterated these views during the broadcast of Saturday's Nationals-Reds game, using Drew Storen's negotiations with the Nationals as an example of what a young player should do once drafted.) The deadline for signing Strasburg, and all other 2009 draft picks, is today. My hope is that, if Strasburg doesn't sign, none of Boras' other clients are signed (he is the agent for 5 of the top 13 picks including the top 3) and that Boras loses credibility with amatuer players going forward.

Vaya Con Dios Les Paul

Music legend Les Paul died last week (August 13) at the age of 94. The innovations Paul brought to the world of music as a guitarist, a guitar builder and recording engineer may have no equal. In the last week, much has been written about Paul by writers who are far more informed about his career than me and I encourage you to seek out some of those peices out and read them. In the meantime, please read this article about Paul posted on PBS' website in 2006 to coincide with the debut of the American Masters program, "Les Paul: Chasing Sound". And, if at all possible, rent or buy the DVD of the program. You'll be astonished by the man's many accomplishments.

Tour de France Follow Up

A few weeks back, I made this post about happenings at the Tour de France that included telling about the financial problems the Tour's premiere team, Team Astana, was having. Team Astana member Alberto Contador went on to win the Tour with teammate Lance Armstrong finishing third. Right after that post was made, Armstrong announced he was starting his own team for the 2010 Tour de France and the team's primary sponsor would be Radio Shack. Immediately, speculation started regarding who would join Armstronng's team and what would happen to Team Astana.

Once Armstrong made his announcement and the Tour was over, Contador and Armstrong started taking shots at each other in the media. The Contador-Armstrong war of words would make the spoiled brat drivers of NASCAR proud. Contador said “My relationship with Lance Armstrong is zero. He’s a great rider and he did a great Tour. Another thing is on a personal level, where I have never admired him and never will.” Armstrong fired back on Twitter (what does that tell you?) with "“Hey pistolero, there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’. what did I say in March? Lots to learn. Restated. Seeing these comments from AC . If I were him I’d drop this drivel and start thanking his team. w/o them, he doesn’t win. A champion is also measured on how much he respect his teammates and opponents.”

It's still up in the air as to what team Contador will ride for next year, but one thing is for certain, he won't be Armstrong's teammate. Contador is still under contract to Team Astana thru 2010, but wants out. According to this L.A. Times blog, Team Astana, which is sponsored by the Kazakhstan based Astana Group, has no intentions of letting Contador walk. So, while Armstrong starts his own U.S. based team, the Spainard, Contador, may be forced to worship the hawk for another year. But, no matter where Contador ends up, the 2010 Tour de France looks to be a soap opera that could be aired in the place of the The Guiding Light or Days of Our Lives for three weeks.

Friday Frolics, Volume 23: Stevie's Dark Secret

Regular Shedd's Spot readers know I found the first season of HBO's East Bound & Down to be freakin' hilarious. I've mentioned the show here several times. A while back I watched the extra material included in the DVD set. One of the DVD extras is the scene that follows that didn't make the final cut of the episode it was shot for. After you watch it, you'll understand why. It's even more wrong than anything included the show. Needless to say, you probably won't want the dialog from this clip being heard in the office. And finally, have any of you readers ever "FDR'd" anyone?
(To see the full, wide screen version of this clip, click on the clip after it starts playing to go directly to YouTube.)

Midweek Time Killers...The Castles

Back in February, I wrote a post on the Thrillbillys celebrating the 5th anniversary of their regular gig at the Sunset Grille. Head Thrillbilly Johnny Castle formed the band to play in the Thursday night spot vacated by Bill Kirchen when Kirchen moved to Austin in 2004. After seeing the Thrillbillys last week, I began to think it was time for everyone to learn a little more about Johnny...and his wife Jana. First, is this Eden Amp artist interview with Johnny that discusses his playing style and a lot of the folks he has played with over the years. Second, is this recent Washingtonian interview with Johnny's wife, Jana, that discusses her 38 year career as a waitress. Jana has spent half of that time waiting tables at the Red, Hot & Blue in Laurel, MD. I guess it's true that there is hard working woman behind every musician.

Quickies

Today's Quickies post continues coverage of two subjects Shedd's Spot just can't resist, Stormy Daniels potential Senate run and Dan Snyder screw ups.

I heard on the radio a while back that adult film star, and potential Senate candidate, Stormy Daniels had been arrested on a domestic violence charge for hitting her husband, among other things. (Maybe she's leaving "regular" porn and moving on to S&M porn and she was practicing for a different type of role?) But, besides Stormy's look in the mugshot to right, the strange thing about this story is that Daniel's political advisor in Louisiana, Brian Welsh, had his car blown up. You can read about both events in this New York Post article.

The latest round of bad publicity for Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder actually has nothing to do with the Redskins. Instead, it involves Six Flags, the bankrupt amusement park chain Snyder controls. Shedd's Spot regular reader, "Barton Street", sent me this link to a recent item from the Washington City Paper that discusses Six Flags second quarter results.

Shedd's Spot Has Been on Hiatus

What do you get when you combine a lot work and some time visiting family out of state? An unfortunate, unnanounced hiatus for Shedd's Spot.

I'm sure there is a multitude of things I could write about, but let's keep it simple to begin with and talk about three men who have birthdays today, August 8th, Frank Howard, Mel Tillis, and Webb Pierce.

Frank Howard was one of the few bright spots in the history of the expansion Washington Senators. Howard came to the Senators from the L.A. Dodgers in a trade prior to the 1965 season. In L.A., Howard had been a part time player. Once arriving in D.C., he became a full time player who put up monster home run numbers in a non-steroid age, including a tear in May 1968 when he hit 10 homers in 20 at bats. Recently, there has been talk of Howard joining the Washington Nationals in some capacity and the Nationals will give away Frank Howard bobbleheads at their August 22nd game againt the Brewers. It's sort of funny they are not doing it tonight because tonight's game features an Adam Dunn bobblehead giveaway. This prior Shedd's Spot post features a link to an Nationals.com interview with Howard.

When most people hear the name Mel Tillis they think of a light hearted, stuttering singer who had a string of country hits in the 1970s and also did some TV and had a few roles in some Burt Reynolds movies. But prior to any of that, Tillis had a hall of fame songwriting career. The first hit he had as a songwriter was Webb Pierce's 1957 version of "I'm Tired", although not all the words were Tillis'. Prior to Pierce recording the song, Tillis had pitched the song to Ray Price at the Florida State Fair. Price took the song back to Nashville, but didn't record it. Instead, Pierce got wind of the song at the Grand Ole Opry one night as Price was singing it backstage. Pierce decided he wanted to record the song, but Price would only give him the first verse. So, Pierce took the first verse to songwriter Wayne Walker who wrote two additional verses that Pierce tacked on to Tillis' first verse. Tillis did not know about the Pierce recording of the song or the changes until he heard Pierce's record on the radio one night while still living in Florida.

"I'm Tired" was the first of many classic country hits Tillis wrote or co-wrote. Pierce recorded several more Tillis songs, inlcuding I Ain't Never", "Tupelo County Jail" and"Honky Tonk Song". (If you can believe it, the Queen of the Blues, Koko Taylor, coverered "Honky Tonk Song" on her 1975 LP I've Got What it Takes.) Ray Price had hits with "Burning Memories" and "Heart Over Mind". Probably the two most famous versions of Tillis compositions are Bobby Bare's "Detroit City" and Kenny Rogers and the First Edition's version of "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town". When Rogers released his version of "Ruby" in the late 60s, many thought Tillis had written the song about a soldier who had been wounded in Vietnam. Instead, Tillis had written it about a man in his hometown who had been wounded in World War II. (I'm surprised someone hasn't covered the song in the past few years, slightly changing the words for the song to be about someone wounded in Iraq.)

In 1984, Tillis released his autobigoraphy, Stutterin' Boy. The book is by no means high brow reading, but includes dozens of great stories about the golden days of Nashville in the 1950s and 1960s. Any fan of real country music history would find it an entertaining read.

Nowadays, Webb Pierce is widely remembered for his flashy style as much as his music. For years, buses ferried hundreds of tourist a day past Pierce's Nashville home to see his guitar shaped swimming pool. But, for a time from the late 1950s through the early 1960s, Pierce was one of the hottest country stars going. Maybe I'll write more about Pierce in the future, but for now you can watch him perform the afforementioned "I'm Tired" in appearance recorded prior to Pierce overdosing on rhinestones.

Friday Frolics, Volume XX: I've Lost Track

A few weeks back, "The Arlington Rap" was all the rage. Now, we have Fairfax's follow up.