"I don't know what to tell ya..."

Took a break from work around 10am to go get gas and beer and smokes ahead of what's supposed to be an upcoming winter ice storm for the next couple of days in Austin. (Already had cat food and Cokes and milk---but had to make sure I had my cigs and beer to tide me over!)

I got my gas/beer/cigs, and as I was returning to my car, an agitated young lady at the next gas pump stopped me and said, "Did you see that guy around the corner?"

I had not. She went on: "He came up to me and was asking me weird things..."

I looked around and didn't see the weirdo. I didn't know what to say to her---she obviously wasn't from my neighborhood, where I see weird things regularly!

I let her vent for a bit, then told her two things: One, there are a lot of homeless guys in this neighborhood. And Two, the recent story of when a guy that I thought was a scary crack-addict came up on me in my apartment complex and asked, weirdly, "Where you from?" (After reporting this to my apartment manager, turned out he was a retarded guy who lived with his parents in the complex.)

I guess I was trying to make her feel better, as in: "You see---the drug-addled homeless guy bothering you might only be a retarded guy trying to make friends..." She laughed at bit...

Today's social media (and mainstream media) might call this young woman a "Karen." But I'm old enough to remember when drug-addled creeps weren't wandering randomly around neighborhoods. She was obviously from a more innocent place and was confused about the weirdness she'd just encountered.

All I could do, sadly, was try to explain about "random homeless guys" in the neighborhood. And then make a lame comment: "Well, at least it wasn't at midnight and there were other people around." And, finally, "I'm sorry you had to start your day like this!"

The Breakfast Club

A recognized classic in 1985, and still today. Back then, my fellow teen/just-post-teen cohorts asked of ourselves: Which are you?

I'm about 50% Dork, 30% Rebel, 8% Claire, 8% Jock, 4% Emo. I reluctantly admired Claire and the Jock. But I absolutely hated Ally Sheedy's character---I still hate that type today, though I've lived for a very long time in Austin: the very Nanny-State, nurturing heart of the mildewy, incompetent Slacker. (If there's anything I'm not, it's "incompetent.")

Old King Kong (George Jones: 1977)

I've got most of George Jones's entire career on CD, via Bear Family boxed sets from '56 to '71, and after that, via all of the subsequent available two-fer and other CDs, up thru his death.

Some Jones records, though, are still hard to find on CD, including the 1977 album "I Wanta Sing" (with its utterly horrible cover)! Last year, I did buy this album as an album, just to help complete my George album collection, but I hadn't yet listened to it on my record player.

For some reason, the George song "Old King Kong" came up in searches this week, and it rang a bell... When I went to YouTube to listen to it, I got a pleasant shock. I haven't heard this song in over 40 years!

When I was a kid in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in the '70s, this song was constantly on country radio. I must've heard it a million times (though, as I later found out, it only reached #34 on the country charts). At the time, I thought this unknown-to-me singer's voice was weird, but I still thought the song was extremely catchy---to the point where I still remember just about every one of the lyrics today!

So it's been fun to hear this particular weird song for two reasons: One, because I thought I'd heard everything from GJ a lot in the past few years---but had completely forgotten about his song on a "hidden" album. And Two, because it was a fun reminder of a very long time ago when I used to hear George all the time as a kid---and I liked the songs, long before I ever knew who "George Jones" actually was or that I wasn't supposed to like "country music" as a wannabe hipster kid.

Tammy Wynette: Womanhood (1978)

Is George singing the bass backup on this? Various random online sources say yes,
but I've not found a definitive source to confirm.



He said hold on, Patricia
I only tried to kiss ya
She said okay and then said don't you dare
She seemed so badly shaken
He thought he was mistaken
But it sure looked like she bowed her head in prayer

I am a Christian, Lord
But I'm a woman too
If you are listening, Lord
Please show me what to do
I've tried hard to be what mama says is good
As I step into my womanhood

Shortly after midnight
She turned off the porch light
Walked into her bedroom all alone
She sat down and said well, Lord
Tonight I've been through hell, Lord
Wondering if I did right or wrong

I am a Christian, Lord
But I'm a woman too
If you are listening, Lord
Please show me what to do
I've tried hard to be what mama says is good
As I step into my womanhood...

Tammy Wynette: One of These Days (1976)

I won't have to chop no wood, I can be bad or I can be good
I can be any way that I feel one of these days
Won't have to answer to anyone, I'll get up with the morning sun
But I'll be gone like the birds that fly one of these days

I might be a woman that's dressed in black, be a hobo by the railroad track
Goin' any place that I want to go one of these days
Do anything that I want if I want to or if I don't
But I'll be gone like the wayward wind one of these days

One of these days it will soon be all over, cut and dried
And I won't have this urge to go all bottled up inside
One of these days I'll look back, and I'll say I left in time
'Cause somewhere for me, I know there's peace of mind

I might someday walk across this land and carry the Lord's Book in my hand
Goin' 'cross the country singing loud as I can one of these days
But I won't have trouble on my back, cutting like the Devil with a chopping axe
Got to shake it off of my back one of these days

One of these days it will soon be all over, cut and dried
And I won't have this urge to go all bottled up inside
One of these days I'll look back, and I'll say I left in time
'Cause somewhere for me, I know there's peace of mind
There's gotta be peace of mind for me one of these days...

George Jones does Little Richard (1995)

This is why I love George so much.
Weird and wild and freaking out (showing off) for his staid ex. (And Tammy ain't havin' it!)

Tammy Wynette & George Jones: We Go Together (1971)

"George and Tammy" series

I learned a few months ago that this bio about George Jones and Tammy Wynette was to be a 6-part Showtime series, but since I didn't have Showtime, I wasn't going to subscribe or anything, though I was, of course, curious... Just found out this weekend that my basic Spectrum cable was now offering the series "on demand" for free... Watched 4 episodes late last night, and 2 early this morning when I woke up...

All I can say now, without too much introspection at this point, is that I cried constantly throughout half of the 5th episode and through most of the last episode. I already knew much about these two via their music, and via reading many biographies. And I was expecting these actors to be cheesy and false... But Jessica Chastain, especially, seemed very much to channel the wounded Tammy Wynette. Michael Shannon looked nothing like George Jones---and he did not at all reflect George's fun-loving, manic side. He did convey Jones's innate simplicity and sincerity and darkness---but Shannon's eyes were dead the whole time. If you watch any video of George Jones, he's got a spark in his eyes that this actor did not have.

A flawed production, and I was cold to the first couple of episodes, but I was ultimately very much moved by the honestly dark portrayal of these two deeply flawed, but loving/obsessed, people.

My heart was heavy after watching this, and after crying on behalf of George & Tammy, and of myself, and of any two humans who ever tried to love but were unsuccessful.

Apartment Decorations

 

 

 

 

Elvis Presley "Hound Dog" (October 28, 1956) on The Ed Sullivan Show

Elvis Presley 1968 Special: Medley: Heartbreak Hotel / Hound Dog / All Shook Up

Elvis Presley: My Way (1977)

Elvis died on August 16, 1977.

George and Tammy: Near You

George and Tammy: Livin' On Easy Street (1971)

Livin' on easy street with a dog and a Persian cat
Livin' on easy street, we don't need this and that
Our bills are gonna be due and the baby will soon be too
But we draw our welfare check this week
Livin' on easy street.

Well, our old ice box is empty and the cupboard is bare of beans
We don't have a pot, we don't have a dime, but we're fulfillin' our dreams
In a two-room shack on a 20-foot lot, the way we live it's the perfect spot
We're living on love and we sure live cheap
Livin' on easy street...

How 'Bout Them Cowboys!

Congrats to my Cowboys for beating the mediocre Tampa Bay Bucs!
I'm not overly impressed, though (except when arguing with Cowboys doubters---who have been usually right, unfortunately).
We won the Wild Card game in 2009 (Eagles), 2014 (Lions), and 2018 (Seahawks), only to lose the next game.
We've not won the Super Bowl since 1995.

I grew up in the North Texas area in the '70s with a father who loved the Cowboys, and so I also grew up watching the Cowboys every Sunday and sharing in their early glories.

The Jimmy Johnson years in the mid-'90s, when I lived and watched on my own, were exciting bonuses.

Everything since then has been living on Past Hope and Glory...

I always liked the ritual of watching the Cowboys every Sunday, win or lose. Much later, when I met my first girlfriend in 1989 and we lived together and I wanted to watch football all day on Sundays, she refused, saying that she had hated listening to all the football on TV while she was growing up! Wow! So we differed in a profound way... I found the games and commentary friendly, she found them hostile...

Today, part of the reason that I like the Fall is that football season is starting. Kinda like my old feelings about school starting: An utterly fresh start---what will happen? And something exciting to look forward to for the next few months...

For me, there's always a let-down post-football season. I used to like basketball when the Spurs were good. And it's still OK because of the Dallas Mavericks... But it's not the same. February thru August are still somewhat null, something to "get through" while waiting for football season to start again!

Etsy Triggers

I started selling stuff on Etsy in late December. (So far, my sales total... ZERO!)

A couple of days ago, I got a group Etsy e-mail about the upcoming Valentine's Day:
"We understand this time can be tough. If you would prefer not to receive Valentine's Day e-mails from us, you can opt out by simply clicking below..."

I responded to the mail (not sure if it was a "no-reply" mail or not):
You guys are joking, right? What sad-sacks are in charge of your promo mails---and should they be?
I've had Valentines, and I've not had Valentines, depending on the year. A reasonably intelligent person understands that this is how things go.
So why the below e-mail? Kow-towing to the extremely emotionally disturbed, who might somehow be "triggered" by not having a Valentine! Utterly ridiculous!

-----------------------

I noticed that Etsy didn't send out a similar "trigger warning" about Christmas, probably because they have a huge volume of Christmas items for sale from good ol' girls who believe in Christmas---and they don't think the same group doesn't like Valentine's Day? The adults in charge of the company need to keep in check their nihilist, woke, leftist interns.

George Jones: The Lone Ranger (1996)

Ingmar Bergman's Rule to Follow

Irrespective of anything that happens to you in life, you hold your communion.

--Bergman (Images, 1990)

-----------------------------------------------------

Bergman was referring specifically to a time when he'd gone with his father, a near-retired minister, to visit a parish where the minister showed up late and claimed to be sick and so was telling his congregation that he wouldn't perform communion. Bergman's father, just a visitor, met with the man "backstage" and had words with him, and the communion was indeed performed.

I guess my own "communion" is Joan Crawford, because despite whatever awful things have happened to me since 1987, I've always turned to learning about her for sustenance---and she's never let me down. She's obviously my anchor. And since 2004, I've always regularly entered information about her on the "Joan Crawford: Best of Everything" website. Longest gap, I think, was 8 days. But in the 19 years I've been working on this website, there was never a longer break than 8 days.

Wasted Life: Lisa Marie Presley - Lights Out (2003)

I was a bit shocked at Lisa Marie's death! She was born in '68, I was born in '65, so I kinda grew up with her! Though:

She was born with everything, wasted it as a druggy in Cali, with a druggy suicide son in 2020. Wasted lives. You'd think her father would have been an example of how NOT to waste your life. Though at least Elvis was born dirt-poor and accomplished something monumental before he died of prescription drug abuse because of the stresses of his profession. What "stresses" did Lisa Marie actually have? Obviously only: How to occupy her time and pose in California...and make a video to make money on the Elvis connection (I think most of us Elvis-fans truly had hopes that his daughter would be talented and actually carry on his name---she did not). The Elvis grand-son had even less to work with.

Righteous Brothers: Unchained Melody (1965)

Probably the best pop song ever.

George Jones: For Better Or For Worse (But Not For Long) (1969)

 

These lyrics are so interesting and emotionally honest/complicated in a seemingly simple country song. Every single, rich line says something about the singer/character's mind-set (and about how Jones sings it).
(Writers: Bill Anderson and Moneen Carpenter)


It's not the love and honour, it's that promise to obey
That makes me think by marryin' we might be doin' wrong
And until death do you part just seems to choke me up to say
My love's for better or for worse, but not for long

Because the season soon will start in Hialeah
Every year I like to see the horses run
And if I lose it's just a short trip to Miami
Where a beach bum always finds 'em when it's fun

Well I was a hopin' our relationship could stay the way it's been
And I'd feel guilty if I tried to put you on
You seem to want more than the understanding woo we made a-way back when
For better or for worse, but not for long

Well if it's any comfort, when I leave it won't be someone else
To turn my head and make me leave you far behind
Your competition is the wanderlust and follow it somehow
I must; you kept my heart content but not my mind

Well you might see me on a newscast from Sun Valley
I hear the skiing's fine there in July
Or I might just top the rocks on the next spaceship
'Cause they tell me it's the only way to fly

So no matter what the postmark reads from Tahoe to Tangiers
I'm where it's happening and that's where I belong
And I really mean the note "I'm having fun, wish you were here"
For better or for worse, but not for long
Well my love, better or for worse, but not for long...

George Jones: "Where Grass Won't Grow" complete LP (1969)

The dirt was clay and was the color of the blood in me.
A twelve-acre farm on a ridge in south Tennessee.
We left our sweat all over that land,
Behind a mule we watched grow old,
Row after row.
Trying to grow corn and cotton on ground so poor that grass won't grow.

There was one old store in the holler we all called town.
It belonged to a gentle old man named Henry Brown.
He gave us credit in the winter time,
So we could live through the cold,
When the winds brought snow.
Trying to grow corn and cotton on ground so poor that grass won't grow.

The one I loved walked through those fields with me.
A hard-workin' woman, true as one could be.
But then one year, death was goin' round,
And swiftly took its toll.
Janie had to go.
Now she lies asleep under ground so poor that grass won't grow.

As I stand here looking over this part of Tennessee,
The fields are bare as far as the eye can see.
And over the grave where Janie lies,
There's a beautiful sight to behold,
And no one knows,
Why there's flowers growin' on ground so poor that grass won't grow...

George Jones: "He Stopped Loving Her Today"

Look at that shy man, all by himself on the stage. No band, no nothing... Just his beautiful voice.

The Show Must Go On?

Show-biz folks, deep-down (despite today's social-media self-importance), were once taught that they don't individually matter. That's why the "show must go on" philosophy---whatever the personal problems/injuries, etc., there's always the understudy ready, and, indeed, the show must go on.

Same, I'd thought, when it came to sports. They're always going on publicly about "the team" and about how tough they are. Except for the Bills/Bengals game tonight. Bills safety Damar Hamlin was tackled in the first quarter and suffered a cardiac arrest, then rushed to the hospital. The whole game was suspended.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/damar-hamlin-collapse-bills-bengals-game-intl-hnk/index.html

And then I listened to hours of self-righteous commentary re how, indeed, the whole game should have been brought to a halt because of one player's injury...

I disagree. I think the game should have gone on. It's not about one player. As in show-biz (which football actually is), it's not about the individual, it's about the SHOW. Players aren't meaningful in and of themselves---they're paid huge amounts of money to entertain us. If they get hurt in the meantime, that's a shame on a personal level, but... their own personal injury should not put an end to the spectacle that we all paid for.

RE both actors and sports figures: No one person is important at all. The show must, indeed, go on.

New

In the past week, I paid over $100 for the "sculpture" at left at a crystals store (gift certificate for Christmas). I paid $3 for the one at right at Good Will.
I think the one at right is more aesthetically interesting and beautiful.
When I bought the one at left, it looked attractive, but seen here in comparison, it looks like a hunch-back monkey. (I'm going to have to separate them.)