The Real Memphis Mike (don't settle for imitations)

Back in 1977, when I was all of "10 3/4" years of age (I was always such a little weirdo!), we had an assignment in school to write a paragraph about what we though life in the year 2000 would be like. The local paper printed a bunch of them, including mine.  As is often the case, my past has come back to haunt me! An old friend, today, sent me a link to an online article on Smithsonian.com where someone has dug up these artifacts and in retrospect, we kids weren't horribly far off. Knowing all of these kids, their writing denotes a lot about their personalities and mindsets...again, mine included. I really was such a weirdo (as my sister often likes to remind me). I could've sworn that I wrote a longer, more in depth piece...but whatever...here's what the writer put in their piece on us Kids of 1977: " In the year 2000 I will be 34 years old. And actually I don’t think kids will have to go to school, because I believe that families will have compu...

I was thinking today about one time when I was little and our mum took us to the carnival. This was, to my knowledge, the last time a REAL carnival, complete with sideshows, was ever in Steubenville. I was maybe 6 or 7 yrs old. This was back when the annual carnival would set up down along the side of the old Mr. Wigg's store down in Hollywood Plaza. They had all the usual rides like the Tilt-A-Whirl and The Octopus (which may be the root cause of my acrophobia - once while riding it with my aunt, my shoe came off and hit some guy in the head!) , fried junk food, and games of chance (our brother Bill always excelled at these!)...but what caught my attention was the sideshow. I remember they had a "mummy" on exhibit (which even to my childish mind looked fake!), a Fiji mermaid (which looked to me like someone sewed a dead monkey to a fish!), a few display cases with embalmed 2 headed critters, and LIVE IN PERSON, The Monkey Lady. I was mesmerized by her "perform...

There's a new show called Nashville. I doubt I'll ever watch it. Having spent a fair bit of time there, I'll stay content with the real thing. I always preferred Memphis, anyway. From 2002 - 2004, I spent a lot of time in Tennessee, most of it in the small town of Linden. Most of you have probably never heard of Linden, and there's really no reason you should have. It's a nice little town with a population of about 1000 or so. It's the county seat of Perry County. I remember when they put in that second traffic light! What makes a town like Linden special and memorable is the people. Sure, it's beautiful country down there. If you like the outdoors and country living, its the kind of place you'll love. For me, it will always be about the people. One of my very good friends, a term I don't use lightly, lives there. His name is Billy Poore. If you're a fan of rockabilly music, then his name is probably known to you. In his 68+ years, he's...

Ahhhhhh, Halloween. The one night of the year where it's considered normal to dress up and beg for candy. For some of us, we call that Tuesday. But seriously, if you grew up in the US of A, chances are you have fond memories of Halloween from your childhood. I know I do. Our mum was great for Halloween! She would make us great costumes or encourage us to dress however we wanted. What was YOUR favorite Halloween costume as a kid? I know what mine was. When I was about 11, my dad had lost a bunch of weight...about 80 pounds or so, and he had all his old pairs of "fat guy" pants. He had them stacked up, getting them ready to go to Goodwill, and I snuck in and grabbed 2 pairs. I found that if I bent one leg back, I could get it into a pant leg. Then I put the other pair on over top of that and did the same. I decided to tie shoes to my knees while doing this. It made me look like a midget. I took an old cane and cut it down to size so I could walk. I got good enough at it...

I'm sure most people realize by now that I refer to my better half as "the young'un". Why? Because she's 15 years younger than I am. (Just call me Mr. Obvious) One would normally think that could be a hindrance to a relationship...growing up during different times could potentially limit our shared life experiences, thus creating a possibility of nothing to talk about . Also, she's young and good looking and I...well...I am not. I used to be...but with age I have reverted to being "cute". (And yes ladies, guys with gray hair really don't like that word "distinguished". We pretend we do...but we don't. To us it means "Hey! Look at the old guy. I bet he was something to look back in his day") While the young'un and I have few similar interests, we use this to our advantage. Every day is a new adventure for us. Lucky for me, she is open to new things. I, on the other hand, am not. I am accustomed to things being just so...