End of Year Time Killers

Over the past few weeks, several articles have been published dealing with some of Shedd's Spot favorite subjects: Robert Byrd, Dan Snyder, the Washington Nationals. Seeing that the Shedd's Spot postings have been few and far between lately, I thought I'd share the articles with you.

A couple of days before Christmas, The Washington Post ran this story on the ol' Exalted Cyclops and how important he was to healthcare reform passing in the Senate. Three days after the article was published, The Post ran this brief feedback piece from the literary editor of The Weekly Standard that reminds readers of Robert Byrd's involvement in the Klan.

In early December, the Washington City Paper's Dave McKenna used his Cheap Seats column to sum up all of Dan Snyder's 2009 missteps. Read the column and get a laugh or two here.

On December 30th, soon to be ex-Washington Post Nationals beat reporter Chico Harlan wrote this Nats Journal piece on the 10 biggest Nationals developments of 2009. To me, the post affirms my claim the biggest mistake the Lerner family made since acquiring the team was keeping Jim Bowden as general manager. The team bottomed out in spring of 2009 with the Smiley Gonzalez scandal and, since then, the team has made massive positive changes in its front office. Unfortunately, those changes don't translate immediately to wins on the diamond. But, some of us have faith the team is finally headed in the right direction.

Midweek Time Killers: Women Country Singers

Country Standard Time recently posted interviews with Patty Loveless and Rosie Flores. Seeing those pieces on the CST website made me think I should post several items relating to women in country music. Both Loveless and Flores have new CDs out. You can read the Loveless interview here and the Flores interview here. Rosie Flores performed as part of a benefit concert I attended at the Continental Club in Austin back in Sept. One of these days I'll post a blog entry of some type posted about that show.

Last year, Loretta Lynn gave this interview to Country Stars Central. The site has both the text and a podcast of the interview. If you can, listen to the podcast. I love the fact Lynn is still inviting the interviewer down to her house when Lynn's people tell her the interview time is over.

Earlier this year, My Kind of Country featured this interview with Connie Smith. Quite a few female country singers, Dolly Parton included, have said in interviews that Connie Smith is their favorite singer.

And finally, a few weeks back, I flipped my SiriusXM radio onto Johnny Knoxville's show. That week's theme was "Country Crooners With Big Cranks". Somehow Bea Arthur's version "If I Can't Sell It, I'll Keep Sittin' On It" made the show. Go figure. You can hear that "masterpiece" here.

Thanksgiving Time Killers: The West Va. Music Hall of Fame

(Shedd's spot has been on hiatus again because of work. I hope I can get things cranked back up and keep it going.)

During past visits to West Virginia, I've made posts that jump all over the place. So, I think I'll keep this on one subject, the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.

A couple of weeks back, the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame inducted its third class of honorees. Among the class were country pioneers the Bailes Brothers and country singer Hawkshaw Hawkins. Over the years, there were four Bailes brothers who performed at different times, in different combinations as the Bailes Brothers. Of the four, only Homer Bailes, age 87, is alive today. At the time this Charleston Gazette piece was written, Homer Bailes was en route from his home in Louisiana back to West Virginia for the Hall of Fame ceremony. So, most of the article's quotes on the Bailes Brothers came from Bailes' daughter. Here is my favorite quote from the daughter:

They were all ornery. They were whoremongers and alcoholics, but they loved each other, and they loved the music.

It won't probably surprise you Homer Bailes became a preacher later on in his life. Those sort of things happen a lot in country music.

I posted this Shedd's Spot piece back in March that features a video of Hawkshaw Hawkins performing "Car Hoppin' Mama" and you can read more about Hawkins in this recent Charleston Gazette article.

You can read more about the Bailes Brothers, Hawkins and the rest of 2009 class here.

One final note about the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. You shouldn't believe all the inductees were/are country performers. The Hall has also inducted Polka King Frank Yankovic and Chuck Berry's long time pianist Johnnie Johnson.

Midweek Time Killers: Ralph Stanley Then and Now

Tomorrow, October 15th, Ralph Stanley's autobiography, Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and Times will be released. Ralph Stanley wrote the book with Eddie Dean, who I often, and with much respect, refer to as the King of White Trash Writers. Today, the New York Times ran this review of the book.

Back before Stanley broke out to a widespread, non-bluegrass audience thanks to his version of "Oh Death" being featured in the Coen brothers film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Stanley was still just a founding father of bluegrass. That was Stanley's status in 1995 when Rebel Records released Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys 1971-1973, a four CD box set which chronicled some of Stanley's most productive years as a recording artist after his brother Carter's death in 1966. In December 1995, The Washington City Paper ran this review and brief Stanley bio which was also written by Eddie Dean. If you're not planning on reading the new Stanley autobiography, and most of you probably aren't, you should at least take a few minutes to read Dean's City Paper piece for an interesting look at an American legend.

Midweek Time Killers: Austin, Texas

This post if full of reading & video material on places in and around Austin that I didn't get to visit during my recent trip to Austin. In some cases, I visited these places during previous trips to Austin. With others, I've only heard or read about them.

First up, this piece tells the story of the weekly Chicken Shit Bingo sessions at Ginny's Little Longhorn. I've been to Ginny's several times in the past because some of my musician friends used to play there quite often, but I never made to a Sunday bingo session.

Back in August, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame named Austin City Limits a historic rock and roll site. You can read it about here.

Finally, Broken Spoke owner James White talks about his Austin dance hall.

Midweek Time Killers from the Midwest

Greetings from Kansas City. Seeing that I'm in the Midwest, I thought I'd post a few pieces on things out this way.

First off, today's USA Today has this article on federal flight subsidies that keep airline service to rural destinations afloat. Most of airports served through the program are in the midwest, although...go figure...four of the airports are in West Virginia. (Big Daddy Byrd at it again.)

Second, Kansas City was home to one of the great franchises in baseball history, the Negro League's Kansas City Monarchs. This MLB.com piece details the Monarchs 1942 championship. While reading the piece, take note of the different locations that hosted games in the championship series and the Homestead Grays attempted use of ringers.

Finally, this excerpt, from the book that accompanied the Ken Burns PBS series on the history of Jazz, explains a little about how the 1920s and 1930s were a wide open time in Kansas City.

Midweek Time Killers: Three Politicians Who Wouldn't Go Away

What do a former Klan member, a man who wears toupees worthy of induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and a man with a master's degree in chemistry have in common? They all have political constituencies that unconditionally love them.

With the passing of Ted Kennedy, West Virginia governer Joe Manchin is considering how he'll choose the successor to the ol' Exalted Cyclops himself, Senator Robert Byrd. I'd think the first step would be to choose someone who hadn't been in the Ku Klux Klan. According to this article, Byrd made only two of 56 roll call votes in the months of July and August.

Meanwhile, former congressman Jim Traficant was recently released from prison. This Washington Post article tells all about his welcome home rally. If talking about passing gas is a qualification for being a member of Congress, maybe I should run. Then again, I don't need a toupee...yet.

Finally, how could I let this post wrap up without including some reading on Da Mayor for Life, Marion Barry. By now, everyone has heard about Barry's recent problems with one of his lady friends. But, this Washington City Paper piece from mid-July details some of Barry's other exploits with city funds. Oh yeah, Barry really does have a master's degree in chemistry. Insert your own joke here. (I recently watched the HBO documentary The Nine Lives of Marion Barry. I hope to have a post on the film sometime in the near future.)

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.

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.

Midweek Time Killers: Two Very Different Subjects

According to this NPR interview with actress Beth Broderick, times are hard for Hollywood's working class actors. It seems the combination of bad ecomomic times, the explosion of reality television shows, and last year's writers' strike have caused the actress' annual income to decrease from a range of $300,000 to $500,000 per year down to $70,000 per year. During the interview Broderick says "Nobody wants to sit where I'm sitting and say, 'Hey, this is the reality. I did two movies, six guest-star spots and I starred in a one-woman show, and I'm not making any money. I'm on TV every day in every country in the world, and I don't make any money.' "

Meanwhile here on the East Coast, former Washington National Matt LeCroy has started a new career as minor league manager in the Nationals farm system. This recent Washington Times piece talks about LeCroy's new career and, of course, tells about the Nationals game in 2006 when the Astros stole seven bases in six innings while LeCroy was playing catcher. Then Nationals manager Frank Robinson pulled LeCroy from the game and then was brought to tears while talking about it in his post-game press conference. To me, that was Robinson's second finest moment during his tenure here in Washington. The first was the incident discussed in this previous Shedd's Spot post.

Midweek Time Killers: Baseball Old and New

The latest issue of Sports Illsutrated has this profile of legendary Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver. The piece readily references the two classic (and obscenity laiden) Earl Weaver clips that are posted for posterity on YouTube and that have been featured here on Shedd's Spot, the Manager's Corner radio program and Weaver's 1980 argument with an umpire at Memorial Stadium. But more importantly, the piece describes how Weaver was a forerunner in using statistical analysis to judge player performance and match ups.

The same Sports Illustrated issue also features a couple of other profiles most old time Orioles fans may want to skip, a story on the 1969 Miracle Mets and a "where are they now" piece on former Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Kent Tekulve.

Meanwhile, today's Harrisonburg Daily News Record includes this article on the first ever meeting between the Cal Ripken, Sr. League and Valley League All Stars. Both leagues are summer leagues for college baseball players. The Ripken League operates teams in and around Baltimore and Washington, D.C. while the Valley League operates teams in the northern half of the Shenandoah Valley. The game ended shortly before I began writing this post with the Ripken League winning 2-1.

And, if you haven't had enough baseball and Earl Weaver, you should be able to hear the Rhodes Tavern Troubadours musical tribute to Earl Weaver here.

Midweek Time Killers...Serena and The Fat Man

I'm beginning to think I should just turn over the Midweek Time Killers series of posts to "J.D" in Richmond. He seems to be turning me on to more and more of the reading material included here. Monday, "J.D." sent me an email with info on this column by Jason Whitlock which takes several shots at Serena Williams, despite her recent Wimbledon win. I'm not going to comment any further on the column. But, I am going to include a few links to other blogs and columns where the writers throw their two cents in on Whitlock's column. There is this blog from The Pitch-Kansas City that also has a great picture of Whitlock with some "entertainers". The Retort has this and there is piece is entitled "Fat Man Calls Serena Williams Overweight…F*cking Hypocrite!". I do think the title of the aforementioned "Fat Man..." piece holds some merit because Whitlock is shaped a lot like another man who is somewhat associated with Kansas City, Jimmy Rushing (pictured below), long time lead singer with the Count Basie Orchestra. And, oh yeah, Rushing's nickname was Mr. Five by Five. Hmmm...maybe Whitlock could adopt the name?

And finally, if you haven't had enough of Jason Whitlock, there is this 2006 interview with The Big Lead, which was conducted not too long after Whitlock's departure from ESPN's Page 2.

Midweek Time Killers...Stupid and Serious Sports Stuff

Many D.C. area residents have probably heard about the awkward in game interview Senator John Kerry gave MASN's Debbi Taylor during one of the Red Sox-Nationals games at Nationals Park last week. I was at the game, so I didn't have the...uh....pleasure of seeing it, but the bulk of it can be read in this D.C. Sports Bog entry. If you dig a little deeper, it's easy to find more examples of Senator Kerry's stiffness and general lack of knowledge when it comes to sports. This Boston Herald column discusses a few of them.

A few weeks after being let go from Dan Snyder owned WTEM radio, Brian Mitchell speaks out about it to USA Today here. (I think it's time Mitchell and ol' CP, Clinton Portis, have it out in a celebrity boxing match. I know a certain fledgling charity in Arlington that would love to sponsor the match and collect the proceeds.) According to this Washington Post piece from a couple of weeks back, the managment of WJFK is planning a jump into full time sports radio. Maybe Mitchell can catch on there.

For a little lighter fare, that is not stupid, check out this WRC-TV website page which features Sonny Jurgensen's 1994 interview with Sammy Baugh.

And finally, "J.D." forwarded me this Jason Whitlock column about the recent HBO Real Sports piece on Jim Brown and Bill Russell. Seeing that Tiger Woods is in town for the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club, it seems appropriate to post a link to the column because part of the column discusses Jim Brown's feelings toward Tiger Woods. That happens, of course, after Whitlock talks about his fascination with strip clubs. Who else would write "Jesus walked with prostitutes. Jason walks with strippers."?

Midweek Time Killers...D.C. Music

A few years back, a few writers at The Washington City Paper compiled this piece which surveyed 40 D.C. music scene insiders as to what pieces of local music were their favorites. My favorite quote from the piece is:

“I’m sure you’ll get a lot of votes for ‘Da Butt,’ and I do think ‘Da Butt’ is a f*cking great song. There’s no way around that,” says Mark Noone, lead singer for the Slickee Boys, who ultimately chooses the Slickees’ own 1983 single, “When I Go to the Beach.” “Not just because I wrote it,” he says. “I just think it turned into kind of a D.C. anthem.”

For those of you who haven't seen the Slickee Boys video for "When I Go to the Beach", you now have no excuses.....

Midweek Time Killers...The One and Only Blelvis

This week, the belated Mid-Week Time Killers post consists of just two items and they both are about Blelvis. The first is Eddie Dean's 1998 Washington City Paper profile of Blelvis. The second is Monica Hesse's article on Blelvis that appeared in The Washington Post in 2007, on the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death.

If you went out in dowtown D.C. in the late 80s or 90s, you may have run across Blelvis on a street corner or performing in a bar like D.C. Space. At the time Eddie Dean piece was written, Blelvis was down on his luck. The Post piece, written nine years later, doesn't focus as much on the Blevis' hard times.

Years ago, my cousin and I had a bunch guys we grew up with over one Sunday to watch football. One of the guys, let's call him "R.B.", was quite the Elvis fan, could sing a little himself and was also African-American. That Sunday, "R.B." told me with great pride how he and his boys had run into Blelvis downtown the night before and how Bleivis given "R.B." the great pleasure of singing a few songs with him. After singing a few Elvis numbers, "R.B." suggested they do a song by "R.B."'s all-time favorite singer, Sam Cooke. But, Blelvis would have no part of it and he left "R.B." to sing the Sam Cooke number on his own. Obviously Blelvis is a man of convictions.

More Midweek Time Killers..."Don't Tase Me, Sonny" and Fishing in the Gulf

Remember when a University of Florida student was tased at a speech given by John Kerry a couple of years back and famously yelled "Don't tase me, bro"? Well, I'm thinking the recent tasing of a Texas grandmother is even more of a classic. I know that sounds awful, but after you watch the following news story from an Austin TV station, that includes police dash cam footage, I think you'll agree.



And of course, you have to love the fisherman who caught a live air to air missile in the Gulf of Mexico. Read about that here.

Midweek Time Killers...More Freakin' Baseball

As expected, the Washington Nationals selected San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg with the first overall pick in last night's first round of the baseball draft. As soon as the pick was made, all the so called "experts" began to chime in on when and if Strasburg will sign, how much money will the contract be worth and when Strasburg will make his Major League debut. I could post links to dozen of articles and columns on those questions, but I'm already sick of hearing the speculation. My breaking point came this morning when I heard Steve Phillips predict on ESPN radio the Nationals will not come to terms with Strasburg and that Strasburg will sit out a year and then re-enter the draft next year. With all that said, I did find this Monday pre-draft piece from the Nationals' website on Ben McDonald, which included his thoughts on Strasburg, very interesting. Many of you will remember back 20 years ago when Big Ben was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the first round of the draft. Many thought he would be the cornerstone of the Orioles starting rotation for years to come. Unfortunately for both McDonald and the Orioles, things didn't work out that way.

Meanwhile up I-95 a piece, Raul Ibanez had this to say in The Philadelphia Inquirer about accusations by bloggers that he is using performance enhancing drugs:

You can have my urine, my hair, my blood, my stool - anything you can test," Ibanez said. "I'll give you back every dime I've ever made" if the test is positive.
"I'll put that up against the jobs of anyone who writes this stuff," he said. "Make them accountable. There should be more credibility than some 42-year-old blogger typing in his mother's basement. It demeans everything you've done with one stroke of the pen.

I haven't accused Ibanez of using PEDs, I don't live in my mom's basement and I'm not 42 (yet), so I guess I'm in the clear when it comes to Ibanez's wrath. Of course, he is batting something like .500 against the Nationals this year and has something like 85 HRs against them in 2009. Hmmm....maybe that's the reason for his improved stats at age 37...he's playing the Nationals 18 times a year????? You can read the entire Philadelphia Inquirer article here.

Midweek Time Killers

There is no theme to this week's Time Killer post. Instead, there is a choice of items that are some of the recurring themes here on Shedd's Spot, music, sports and life in and around the Nation's Capital.

First off, Dave Alvin recently released "Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women". You may recall from a prior post, that Alvin felt he couldn't record and tour with his former band, the Guilty Men, after the death of Alvin friend and bandmate Chris Gaffney. Alvin talks about that and the new CD in this Country Standard Time article. Alvin and Guilty Women play the Birchmere on July 25th.

It's been a little over four years since the voice of Baltimore sports, Chuck Thompson, passed away. In this NPR audio essay from 2005, Frank Deford remembers Thompson.

Finally, in yet another Washington City Paper flashback, Catherine Alter details how hard a time men in D.C. had meeting women in her 1996 article "Bitch Hunt". I wonder if 13 years have changed matters any?

Midweek Time Killers

Many of you may have seen last year's HBO Real Sports story about Lenny Dykstra. The story told of Dykstra's financial genius and how he had turned his investment in a car wash into a financial empire. This lengthy ESPN.com piece by Mike Fish follows up on the Real Sports story, but casts Dykstra in a far different light.

A couple of weeks back, I saw the The Washington City Paper had a cover story entitled "Screw U" about sex, or a supposed lack thereof, on campus at Catholic University. I thought to myself "that oughta be interesting". Well, I was disappointed. The article detailed how the student code prohibited most every sex act. But, guess what? The University is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. Would that surprise you? The piece goes on to say the anti-sex rules aren't really enforced. So, in the end, you have to wonder what was the point of piece. I would have found an article on the rules at Bob Jones University much more interesting.

WTEM radio, owned by Dan Snyder, did not renew the contracts of ex-Redskin Brian Mitchell and the hair spray kid, Al Koken. Maybe Mitchell's contract was not renewed because of his heated on air discussion with Clinton Portis last fall. ("CP's pockets is straight" was a classic line although I still have no idea what to hell it means.) Back in Feb., "J.D.", "Vern", "Vern's" son, "D", and I went to the Mason-Madison basketball game at JMU. Prior to the game, Al Koken, who was doing play by play of the game, was in the men's room primping and making sure each hair was glued in place. I made an offer to "D" of $10 if we would go over and mess up Koken's hair. "D", who is 10, was up for it, but "Vern" wasn't. I would have laughed my a** off if "D" would have pulled the stunt. It wouldn't have been hard for "D" considering Koken and "D" are about the same height. Anway, a Washington City Paper blub about Mitchell and Koken's departures is here.

Midweek Time Killers...Old School Baseball Style

(No, that is not the blogger known as Shedd in the picture to the right.)

Every year about this time, the Baltimore Orioles visit the District for a series the Nationals promote as "The Battle of the Beltways". Honestly, it's more like the "Contests of the Cellar Dwellers", but the series usually draws well and the fans seem to have a good time. When the Nationals were still playing at RFK, some friends and I would always take in the Sunday game of the series after a couple of hours of tailgating. On one of those Sundays, my friend "Drycleaner Chris" and I were approached by the weekend sports anchor for local channel 9. She wanted to interview Chris and me for a story examining the Nationals-Orioles rivalry. Weekend anchor girl was your typical nice bodied TV blonde type, so, in our buzzedness, we readily agreed to step in front of camera. Chris BS'd his way through what seemed to be a five minute answer, then I babbled for a while, hoping my drunkedness wouldn't show up on video. (Believe me, I have a face and a voice made for blogging, so if I would have been sober, there's no way I would have let myself go on camera.) Soon, interview time was over and we headed into the game. When I got home that evening, I set my DVR to record channel 9's late night sports show and then readily forgot about the entire incident.

A few weeks later, I was visiting my parents in West Va. when my mom told me a friend of hers had seen me on TV. I'm sure I had a puzzled look on my face, because I had totally forgotten the interview. (15 beers or so on the day of an interview will do that to a guy.) My mom went on to tell me her friend said it looked like I was "at a ball game or something". Then it dawned on me what she was talking about. I was truly expecting the next words to come out of my mom's mouth to be her friend said "and he looked like he was three sheets to the wind". But, I got lucky. Once I got back home, I watched the story on my DVR. My minutes of babbling was edited down to about 20 seconds for the story. And, geez did I look like a** in my drunkedness.

In honor of this weekend's "Contests of the Cellar Dwellers", we'll take a look back at some old school baseball items from the Washington and Baltimore areas. (I refuse to lump the two cities into one geographic region because the two cities could not be more different.)

First, there's the best ever of the buzzed baseball fans, Baltimore's Wild Bill Hagy. This Washington Times piece was written by Dick Heller shortly after Hagy's death in August 2007. But, even more interesting is this 1979 Evening Magazine story on Hagy.


Lastly, is this NationalsPride.com review of Stephen J. Walker's 1999 book A Whole New Ballgame. The book details the Washington Senators 1969 season, their first under the leadership of Ted Williams. Although everyone remembers the Senators as perennial losers, they actually had a record of 86-76 in 1969. Personally, my lone memory of the Senators was going to a game at the age of four with my dad and grandfather in 1971, the Senators final year in D.C., and spilling orange soda all over myself and being hot and sticky the rest of the day. I guess it could have been worse, I could have a memory of a loss.