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Voices of the past

I am not sure where today went. I’m going to blame the emails, literally hunders of them, that I wrote today. Also there was reading materia. Reading my material and then reading for a class I’m teaching. Somehow the day disappeared.

So, here, have some interesting links.

As ESPN Debated, Manti Te’o Story Slipped Away:

Some inside the network argued that its reporters — who had initially been put onto the story by Tom Condon, Te’o’s agent — had enough material to justify publishing an article. Others were less sure and pushed to get an interview with Te’o, something that might happen as soon as the next day. For them, it was a question of journalistic standards. They did not want to be wrong.

Bless those hearts full of integrity. What’s that ESPN? Yet another bizarre update in the bizarre story? OK:

A source close to Te’o gave ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap documents that the source says are Te’o’s AT&T phone records from May 11 to Sept. 12, the date that the woman was supposed to have died. The logs are not originals, but spreadsheets sent via emails, and could not be independently verified.

They re-wrote it, but I recorded the original passage on Twitter. The earlier version said “Their veracity couldn’t be independently confirmed, but the source insisted they are genuine.”

The source insisted. In a story about hoaxes. Journalistic standards.

Jobs: Recession, Tech kill middle-class jobs:

Five years after the start of the Great Recession, the toll is terrifyingly clear: Millions of middle-class jobs have been lost in developed countries the world over.

And the situation is even worse than it appears.

Most of the jobs will never return, and millions more are likely to vanish as well, say experts who study the labor market.

On the other hand, Lowe’s is hiring 54,000 and 9,000 permanently. And union membership is down in Alabama.

Finally, A 1951 home recording from Hazel Street. Kim and Herb are celebrating 25 years, and all of their friends recorded a message on a Wilcox-Gay Recordio.

That’s via James Lileks. And since he didn’t, I’ll wonder why it is that this recording fascinates in ways 60 years from now that nothing we produce on Instagram or Pinterest or anywhere else won’t in 2075.

Here’s Bill Wagner, a coal man, who — think about this — was about to hear his recorded voice for the first time ever.

Here’s a raucous group sing:

Here’s evidence that teenaged girls have giggled for generations. This song is from 1935, the first country song by a female artist, Patsy Montana to sell more than one million units. So maybe this was recorded by amateurs now lost to history in the 40s or 50s.

Here Albert is recording a message in California for friends or family back home in the midwest during World War II:

Those were all thrift store finds. This one is a family heirloom:

There are at least several dozen of these on YouTube. I could listen to them all day.

That is not where my day went.

adventures / food / Friday / iPhone / memories / music / photo / Samford / video — Comments Off
14
Dec 12

Our last day, a travel day, a tragic day

If you have never been to Savannah — or if you’re only now planning a trip because you’ve read about it in this space or if you’ve never been to this particular place — do yourself a favor and go to lunch at Mrs. Wilkes. Go early in your trip, because you will want to go back.

Don’t even worry about Paula Deen’s place. This is better and you’re welcome.

Under our tree, where we always spend our last afternoon before leaving town. We spent a day under this tree on our first trip here in 2005. We got engaged under this tree a few years later. This is the view I had while working up the nerve:

A guy walked by, one of the panhandling welcome committee members, and offered to take our picture:

The Yankee composes a terrific photograph similar to the view I shared above:

On River Street, where few tourists are to be found even on this beautiful Friday, there was a busker:

Who doesn’t love a good busker? This guy sang a capella all weekend. Just him, his hands, his money bucket and a bottle of water. You could hear him a block away. Sounded great, too.

And back home we drove. We’d been reading all day about all of the terrible senselessness that had taken place in Newtown, just 20 miles from where The Yankee grew up.

Meanwhile, police found the bodies of a woman and two kids in a small apartment just a few miles from my campus. So there I am, middle of the night, driving through the countryside and calling media relations people, editors, police departments and the campus safety office, trying to make sure that this had no Samford ties. Seems it did not.

Covering that during the semester break would be a challenge. I’m sure our students would have done a respectful job. Wish you saw more of that from Connecticut out of cable television today. There’s been far too much misinformation and misidentification (problems originating with overwhelmed law enforcement agencies) alongside conjecture and quacks that have been shuffled in front of the cameras (strictly the media’s fault). But all of that belongs in a different rant.

As of this writing they are up to 26 fatalities there. It is hard to all of this, so sweeping and terrible in its scope and consequence. There’s precious little peace and even less understanding, I’m sure.

I think of the voids, the big hole in the community that stands out for years in a wide tragedy. I think of all of the little empty places found in all of those families when someone is so unexpectedly pulled away. That lasts for generations.

Found this on one of our local merchant’s Facebook page:

If you would like to mail sympathy cards or letters of support to the school, the address is:

Sandy Hook Elementary School
12 Dickenson Drive
Sandy Hook, CT 06482

Please copy/paste/share widely. Sending a card is something small but it’s the least we can do!

Here’s their website.

Auburn / baseball / football / Friday / music / Samford / video — Comments Off
7
Dec 12

I wrote a review

Dave Brubeck, who invented the notes that landed between the things that you don’t play that mean you’re making jazz, recently died. Everyone that is knowledgeable about his importance to music can talk far more about this than I can.

But someone found footage of a concert he performed at Samford in the 1980s. Not sure why it is in black and white. Just enjoy the show:

Since I mentioned Bo Jackson yesterday … The War Eagle Reader asked me to write a little preview of the 30 for 30 on him, which debuts tomorrow. I had the chance to watch it last night:

The first story is from retired baseball coach Hal Baird, “I saw Bo jump over a Volkswagon.”

The second story, the one about Jackson standing in thigh-high water and doing a standing back flip, is from one of his coaches at McAdory High School. I’ve heard that one from a few different people that fit in that period of Jackson’s young life.

There’s the story about Jackson throwing a football up to the scoreboard before the Sugar Bowl. Randy Campbell told me that one himself.

Dickie Atcheson, his high school football coach, talks about Jackson using a pole vault pole designed for 180-pounders. Bo cleared 13 feet at 215 pounds.

There’s another story where he literally destroyed a batting cage in front of the top scout for the New York Yankees. In high school. With one hit.

Baird didn’t mention the story about hitting three home runs into the lights at Georgia as a freshman. No one told the story about the home run he hit that carried halfway over the football field. The one about when he came back to the high school after his hip replacement. He was still faster than everyone, including the kid that would capture most of his high school records.

Bo Jackson was amazing:

Bo Jackson is amazing. Always will be.

I only wish the documentary covered Bo Bikes Bama. Because HE SCARED TORNADOES OUT OF THE STATE.

You Don’t Know Bo was directed by Michael Bonfiglio (you can read TWER’s interview with him here). It premieres on ESPN on Dec. 8th at 9 p.m.

music / Samford / Tuesday / video — Comments Off
4
Dec 12

Caledonia Soul music | Tell me what it is

Last class of the semester. There were cookies and hugs and television scripts and newspaper copy.

Also the last late Tuesday of the semester.

There were bleary eyes and late copy and other assignments begging for attention.

Now to the grading.

And that is finally done, there will be the traditional playing of Van Morrison:

collarbone / iPhone / movies / music / photo / Samford / video / Wednesday — Comments Off
28
Nov 12

Where I complain about feeling bad, and also, Meat Loaf

I worked with students. I had a critique meeting with the newspaper staff. We discussed how we managed to leave an entire question, ‘Why?’ out of a story.

But at least we managed to reference something from 1939 in that piece which didn’t really matter much at all to the story today. Z has now happened, which was a logical conclusion of X, which brought about Y. And now here’s a tale of B, C and D.

That’s the way of it sometimes.

I told one funny story. I worked on this for much of the afternoon:

I had a headache and various other aches. This hurt and that hurt and my shoulder was bothering me for no reason at all and my collar bone was weird and on and on. Pretty rough for most of the day. By the evening I was in a foul mood of my own creation and for no good or real reason.

So I watched Memorial Day, which was what a movie that’s not trying to be a movie might look like.

This is interesting. Here is the trailer from the movie’s distributor:

And here is the trailer, YouTube says, “From the actual filmmakers. Not the distributors.”

I wonder what brought that on. Which of these movies would you rather see?

If you like the Cromwells, this movie is worth seeing. Everyone else is just holding serve, but that’s OK. When your film is about a flashback within a flashback the leads are running the show anyway.

I watched the Jackson Browne DVD, Going Home, but it didn’t fit my mood.

So I soothed myself with Meat Loaf:

Tomorrow will be better. Has to be more delightful than this one.