Positive thoughts for Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow had surgery for breast cancer a few days ago. According to her website, she underwent successful surgery on Wednesday and described the procedure as “minimally invasive.” Doctors said her prognosis was excellent and she would have radiation treatments as a precaution.

“I am joining the more than 200,000 women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year,” Crow said. “We are a testament to the importance of early detection and new treatments … I am inspired by the brave women who have faced this battle before me and grateful for the support of family and friends.”

Drunker than me

That’s the title of a new country song by Kennett native, Trent Tomlinson. Viretta and Nancy were beating this drum back in September and sent us a pre-release CD. I sort of half-way listened to some of the songs but I’m not a country fan so I didn’t really give it a shot. I just watched one of the videos on Mr. Tomlinson’s website and loved it. The video and the music. Like I said, I don’t know shit about country music (possible song title?) but it sounds to me like the boy has some real mojo. I went to school with Trent’s daddy (and sat on the bench, watching his pop play basketball) so that might be a factor here. But if Trent’s career takes off the way Sheryl Crow’s did, we’ll need a bigger Welcome to Kennett sign.

‘Cause I keep worryin’ about who’s drivin’ home,
Who’s got the keys, who’s got the ‘phone.
Who’ll pay the bill, call a cab.
I don’t mean to make you mad,
But I don’t want that responsibility,
An’ I can’t be with a woman, baby, who gets drunker than me.

Small town radio: 1976

When my brother moved to Indonesia, he stored a bunch of boxes at our father’s house. After dad died and we sold the house, I lugged the boxes back to Jeff City. My brother and I went through them this week and discovered the treasure above. My hair is gray now and may someday be gone, but I will always have this.

“Captain Banana, who spends most of his days disguised as a mild-mannered local radio personality, will emerge Saturday to serve as master of ceremonies for the American Cancer Society dance-a-thon to raise money for cancer research. The contest will begin at 7:00 p.m.; tickets are $1 at the door.” — Daily Dunklin Democrat, May 12, 1976.

Delta Fair and Livestock Show

They dropped the livestock reference many years ago after a fire broke out and cooked up a lot of beef and pork. But “the fair” is a Kennett tradition and OMIK (Our Man in Kennett), Charles Jolliff, shares his excellent flickr set. These bring back memories of Minnie the Mermaid and riding the Scrambler with Melanie Price, high school hot in her Girl Scout uniform, her chest encrusted with merit badges. Sigh. Where was I? Oh yes, Charles’ photos.

Kennett music news

Kennett correspondent Viretta got an early listen to the new CD by Trent Tomlinson (son of Bragg City/Kennett basketball star Don Tomlinson) and tags it “incredible.” Trent’s been in Nashville for about 12 years and recently signed with Lyric Street Records, a division of Disney headed up by another good old Kennett boy, Doug Howard. Viretta reports the CD will be coming out soon and describes Trent’s lyrcis as “fantastic.” And she would know.

In other music news, we received an email from a nice lady at VH1 asking for permission to use some of the photos of Sheryl Crow at the dedication of the Aquatic Center for a news package they’re putting together. I confessed that all of the good pix were shot by professional photog Bill Greenblatt.

Jane Marshall in NYC

Long-time friend and star of The Basement Diaries, Jane Marshall, was in NYC last week for Sheryl Crow’s performance in Bryant Park:

“Stayed up all nite making signs with my friends and left the hotel about 5:45 to make the walk to the park. Even though I don’t know (Sheryl) personally, we were able to get her attention and at the end of her set she gave “a shout out to Kennett, MO” that was enough for us. The concert was good but, what really blew us away is how beautiful Diane Sawyer is. I mean, TV does her no justice at all. We were in awe, she is just stunning.”

You can forget big TV stars and famous recording artists… Jane Marshall in the Big Apple is the show I want to see.

Cliff Birklund

I’ve been thinking a lot about advertising these days. Radio advertising in particular. I have met hundreds of radio sales people during the past 30+ years. My father sold for many years.

Cliff Birklund (I don’t remember how Cliff spelled his name) was hired to do news at KBOA but eventually moved into sales. In a previous life, he was a commercial artist and I’ll never forgive myself for not saving more of his doodles. This one is a classic (have I posted this before?) but I’ve always liked this self-portrait.

Update: Bob Heater asks how Cliff could have –in 1978– doodled something on a 1989 calendar page. I left KBOA in 1984 so I must have salvaged the drawing on a later visit to Kennett.

Sheryl and Lance pedal into the sunset

Okay, it’s official. Lance and Sheryl are engaged, according to statement by Lance on Monday (9/5). Thanks to our Kennett sources, we had it at 9:44 p.m. on Friday (9/2).

Correction courtesy of Everett: “I expect this sort of thing from the Democrat (who made same error), but not from my hero. Peddling has to do with selling stuff out of your backpack or car. Pedaling is what bicyclists do.”

Bad News: Education in Kennett Public School System
Good News: Old Kennett friends read your blog and correct your mistakes.

Katrina refugees welcomed in Bootheel

Charles Jolliff follows up on earlier post about Katrina refugees coming to Kennett:

I found out where Camp McClanahan is where the visitors from the south will be housed. I found the place just east of Friendship. It’s two miles from my house and I never knew of its’ existence. Go figure. I’m sure you know about it though, 25 cottages, a pool, baseball field, a small serenity pool, and auditorium and a few other buildings. I ran into a bunch (20-30) of people and –by luck– talked to the man in charge, Lance Davis, the Deputy Director of Emergency Management for Dunklin County.

Lance said that this complex was a designated Red Cross shelter. There are 25 cottages in the encampment and I went into one and saw a clean and cool place that had two shower areas and bunk beds. That building could sleep 15 easily in just this one place. Davis was expecting 60 people to arrive today, but they were re-routed to a more northern part of Missouri. I also heard from a friend that Benton MO (ten miles north of Sikeston) has already received some people. As of this moment (4:45 pm, Saturday), there are no folks staying at the complex. Davis feels that they will receive some folks on Monday, but more likely Tuesday. There will be medical personnel available to check on the health of those that arrive.

The phone number for the camp is 573-888-6130 if anyone wishes to donate anything, or wants to know what is needed.

Update: First refugees arrived in Kennett late Saturday afternoon. [DDD]