I wanted to spread some love for some great people involved in local businesses and events this week on the old Blog.       First I would like you to get out and support the Third Annual Mac Arnold Cornbread and Collared green Blues Festival. It’s four night of great music all to raise funds for the Ronald McDonald Houses of the Carolina’s Mac is a True Blues Legend and one of the most giving and hardworking people I know. His Band, Plate full of Blues is equally as cool and dedicated to helping children through music. So please go to wwwmacarnold.com and check the schedule of shows running through Saturday and find out about the raffle for one of Mac’s signature “Gas Can Guitars” a very special item anyone would love to have.      Second of all I wanted to talk about a great South Carolina original and a product that will just knock your socks off when you try it. It’s Uncle Pete’s BBQ sauce. The family owned company has been passed along through three generations of the family and has represented our State as a National Award winner from The National BBQ Association Award of Excellence! They are Based right here in Simpsonville so you’re supporting a great local company and let me tell you you’re enjoying some incredibly tasty sauce. Use as a dipping sauce, cook with it, marinade, pour it your baked beans and try it on all your favorite things to grill! It’s a little sweet a little smoky and tangy.  I tell you it’s even replaced Marinara on my Meat ball sandwiches. I’m also looking for your special recipe using Uncle Pete’s sauces as well so once you try it e-mail me you recipe and name to bblades@entercom.com  Uncle Pete’s BBQ sauce in three flavors available at The Cider house in T.R. Rey’s Market and Bistro in Greenville, the New York Butcher shops in Greenville and Greer And you can find it at the Carolina First Farmers Market Downtown Greenville this weekend from 8a-12p. Stop by and load up and say Hi to The owner Tom and his great family!And I also wanted to say congratulations to my old Friend Chris Martin and his wife as they take over ownership of the down town Greenville Institution the HOT DOG KING! Located down on Main st. It’s been a favorite for many for years and years and it couldn’t be in better hands. Please stop by and say hello and have a Hot Dog or 5 and tell Chris that Brian sent you by to say congratulations!      Great people doing great things right here in the upstate. Let’s show them the support and appreciation so they can continue to grow and give back to the Upstate for years to come!     

On this day in history, the Army tested bomb accuracy by dropping a series of basketballs out of a blimp.  The target was a 10 foot cross, and NONE of them came close.  The year was 1958.

Now flash forward to current day technology.  We can fire a missile from miles away, have it go down a chimney, make a turn into an air vent, come out in a hallway, knock on the door and say “candygram” just before they explode.

From basketballs out of a blimp in 1958 to precision guided weaponry.  
Now if we could just eliminate those God awful Capri pants we may have something

The NFL draft was held over the weekend. 

Being an owner in the National Football League must be unlike any other business.

Where else will the team with the worst record from the previous year, and thus smaller revenue, have to step up and offer a multi year agreement to an untested employee.

Typically this new hire is the Quarterback, and that contract will be worth over $40 million dollars.

Historically the owner knows full well that there is only a 40% chance the new hire will succeed, yet he has to improve the performance by shelling out $40 million dollars he doesn’t have.

Sounds like congress.

 GO Natinals!

I just got through watching one of my favorite movies.

You know, where I come from,  “Smokey & the Bandit” is considered a documentary.

Having said that, no one and I do me NO ONE could have done a better job than Jackie Gleason as Buford T. Justice.

Thanks Hoots!!

Below is a clip you likely have never seen. The recording of ‘Get Back’ for the ‘Let It Be’ album.

In their early days, The Beatles played in clubs for hours most nights, but by 1967, they stopped touring. This single was advertised
as “The Beatles as nature intended.”

McCartney:
“We were sitting in the studio and we made it up out of thin air… we started to write words there and then… when we finished it, we recorded
it at Apple Studios and made it into a song to roller coast by. The character “JoJo” was based on Joseph Melville See Jr., Linda McCartney’s first husband. He was from Tucson, Arizona, and killed himself there in 2000.

The missing verse from Get Back: “Meanwhile back at home there’s nineteen Pakistanis, Living in a council flat/Candidate for Labour
tells them what the plan is/Then he tells them where its at”. (“Council flat” is the British equivalent for “housing project”).

Early versions include the line “I dig no Pakistanis.” The song began as a commentary about immigration, telling people to “Get Back” to their own countries. It was meant to mock Britain ’s anti-immigrant proponents. Paul McCartney thought better of it and made the lyrics more obscure.

Paul looked at Yoko in the studio when he sang the line “get back to where you once belong.” John thought he was disrespecting her. There
was a rare quote by Paul that said “I don’t take any notice of her. She’s John’s wife so I have to respect her for that, but I don’t think she’s the brightest of buttons. She’s said some particularly daft things in her time. Her life is dedicated to putting me down but I attempt very strongly not to put her down.” They eventually became friends even if it did have to be after John was murdered. Ringo was the only one who would accept Yoko in the beginning when she first came into the picture, during and after The Beatles.

Billy Preston played piano and became the only guest artist to get a credit on a Beatles single – “The Beatles with Billy Preston.” George
Harrison had left the recording session one day and saw Preston in concert with Ray Charles. The Beatles had met Preston back in 1962 when they were both playing in Germany , but they hadn’t seen each other since. Harrison asked Preston to come by the studio the next day. Having him in the studio eased the tension and made it easier for The Beatles to put personal conflicts aside and record the album.

On the video clip you can briefly see a young Mick Jagger & Charlie Watts from the Rolling Stones in the booth. Phil Spector is the guy wearing the glasses (now he wears prison stripes).

I can’t explain why this subject popped into my head today but I’m just going to run with it err maybe I’ll just punt! Yes I said punt.  Today I realized that I think I may have pursued the wrong career. I think I should have been an NFL punter.  I can’t really say why I feel this way other than something deep down in my ever growing gut tell me that’s what I really should have done.      I mean back in the day I was a pretty good football player, had a little speed decent moves, good hands, just didn’t have the size, or as some coaches would say the attention span to really go far in the game. Back then the punter was just who ever could kick the ball farther than everyone else on the team. I could have been the QB the RB the Flanker, heck our best kickers seemed to be Linemen as I recall.         I just don’t know why I didn’t try a little harder to be the punter. I mean it wasn’t the glory position, but man if I’d just worked at it, who knows, I could been one of the greats.  Just think all you had to do was kick the ball all week keeping you’re leg ready to go. And then find yourself on a great team that has a great offense and maybe you’d have to go out there and kick what 4-5 times a game and the rest of the time just hang loose. But then again I could have ende3d up on a bad team like The Detroit Lions in the 70’s . I could have been Herman Weaver the long time Lions kicker who must have had to punt 10 times a game as bad as they were. So bad in fact Herman Weaver still holds the record for most punts blocked in a career! But who would care you would have still been an NFL player, right!      But wait, there’s that part about being the outcast on the team, pretty much left out when it came to being a team member, and those single bar face masks, and the wimpy shoulder pads no pads in your pants and having to go retrieve all those balls you had to kick in practice! Damn that would have sucked. I don’t think I would have liked fetching my own balls everyday, that’s a hell or a lot of walking.        Oh well maybe I found the right career after all. I mean I get to play rock music all day, talk, talk, talk and talk even more, god knows I do like doing that. Plus I get to be a part of a great team. So Scratch all of what I just wrote above, I’m pretty happy with my career path after all. I just wish DJ’s had some kind of jersey and our name on our backs, and maybe something to kick every once in a while, cause I still think that would be fun to be able to kick the **** out of something every once in a awhile. Like every night after I watch the news!!!

I am so tired of hearing that Perez Hilton is upset!  He is just looking for some PR for his gossip web site that I’m sure he’s getting, and ALL of the TV time as well.  Miss California, Carrie Prejean was asked her opinion on a personal & political question about gay marriage, and she gave it!  It does NOT matter what Perez, other judges, you or even me personally believe, Miss California answered the question along the lines of her personal beliefs, and was penalized for it.   Do they want contestants that just look hot and pander to the judges whenever they can, or are the wanting strong, smart & bold women?    Many on the media are saying the Miss California, stumbled in her answer; I still don’t understand why she is being compared to Miss Teen South Carolina Lauren Upton and her brilliant answer last year.  You remember…

If you ask a volatile question, you should be prepared for an explosive answer!  Suck it up if you don’t like that answer, that’s one opinion

Today is Earth Day!!

To celebrate the event, I went to the back yard, and returned a dirt clod to the wild.

It was difficult for me since I had grown attached to the clod. 
We had spent many hours together discussing all manner of things environmental.  In fact I wanted to name the clod so I  gave careful consideration to it and it came to me…the perfect name. 

So earlier today I set the clod free…..back to the environment. 
I’m going miss that clod, yea Al Gore was as good a clod as you could hope for.

There goes another Earth Day. 
I hope yours was as special as it was to Al and me.

Just think, its only a few days before all the landscaping and drywall work comes to a stop as we celebrate Cinco DeMayo!