Learning To Live Without You - One

Learning To Live Without You - Two

Sports Announcers I Grew Up With: Cawood Ledford

There is a special place in my heart for the radio and TV sports announcers I grew up with. From ABC's Wide World of Sports to roller derby and wrestling, and everything in between, sports was a big part of my life growing up. At my house, we watched on TV whatever sport was 'in season,' especially on Saturday's. If there was a sports event on radio, we listened to it. I was very blessed to grow up with many now- legendary voices and characters. Today, I want to pay tribute to Cawood Ledford.

Cawood Ledford's style of doing play by play endeared himself to all sports fans in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He remains among the most popular sports figures in the state. I started listening to "Cawood" at a young age. I can remember my dad lying in bed listening to the Voice of the University of Kentucky Wildcats as I sat listening from the steps that led upstairs to my bedroom. "Hello everybody, this is Cawood Ledford..."

Ledford began broadcasting high school basketball and football games for WHLN radio in Harlan in 1951 and began broadcasting Kentucky Wildcats games in 1953 after moving to Lexington. He remained play-by-play announcer for UK for 39 years. His last game as an announcer for a Kentucky basketball game was in 1992, when Kentucky fell to Duke 104-103 in overtime in the NCAA East Regional Final, a game widely considered to be the greatest college basketball game ever played. He also worked as the play-by-play announcer for national radio broadcasts of the NCAA Men's Final Four on the CBS Radio Network and called many runnings of the Kentucky Derby for CBS Radio. Ledford also did play-by-play of the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association. Nobody ever could or ever will do play by play as good as Cawood Ledford.

One of my favorite photographs is this one featuring the Voice of the Clinton County Bulldogs, Sid Scott, and the Voice of the Kentucky Wildcats, Cawood Ledford.

Sports Announcers I Grew Up With: Lance Russell and Dave Brown

There is a special place in my heart for the radio and TV sports announcers I grew up with. From ABC's Wide World of Sports to roller derby and wrestling, and everything in between, sports was a big part of my life growing up. At my house, we watched on TV whatever sport was 'in season,' especially on Saturday's. If there was a sports event on radio, we listened to it. I was very blessed to grow up with many now- legendary voices and characters. Today, I want to pay tribute to Lance Russell and Dave Brown.

Lance Russell was the announcer for the Saturday morning wrestling programs that aired on TV throughout my childhood. It was my favorite program to watch. Russell announced matches in the Memphis region from 1959 to 1997, for the NWA Mid-America and the Continental Wrestling Associations. He was best known for his relaxed announcing style, as well as the much-used phrases, "By golly" and "Son of a gun." His co-host for more than two decades was Dave Brown, a college student and disc jockey, and later, TV meteorologist. While he was definitely a star, Lance Russell never found himself in the position of being a bigger than the wrestlers he worked with. That list runs long: Lou Thesz, Jackie Fargo, Jerry Lawler, Jimmy Hart and Randy Savage, to name a few. Russell would get up from his chair to conduct interviews, walking around to the front of the desk. It was common to see one or more of the heel wrestlers demolish the set or even run roughhouse over Russell. Be sure to watch the video below. These interviews were often the highlight of the Saturday morning television broadcast. Russell also literally rang a bell to begin matches, in addition to pounding it loudly in futile attempts to halt out-of-control melees in the ring. Russell used the mic to chastise and exhort wrestlers during their match. He often encouraged other wrestlers to run in from the locker room and offer assistance. His famous one-liners were "Don't start with that smart stuff" and "Will you guys just stop and get out of here?"

Dave Brown, began his broadcasting career in 1962 at age 16 as a disc jockey at WKBJ Radio in Milan, Tennessee. For 38 years, he has been chief meteorologist for WMC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Memphis. Dave Brown spent 35 years as an announcer for the Memphis Wrestling television program (later Championship Wrestling). 25 of those years was spent alongside Lance Russell. Russell and Brown have been described by wrestling insiders and fans as the greatest television announcing team in the history of wrestling. Heel wrestlers and managers like Jimmy Hart nicknamed him "Dave Brown the Weather Clown" as well as "Howdy Doody."

Sports Announcers I Grew Up With: Joe Dean

There is a special place in my heart for the radio and TV sports announcers I grew up with. From ABC's Wide World of Sports to roller derby and wrestling, and everything in between, sports was a big part of my life growing up. At my house, we watched on TV whatever sport was 'in season,' especially on Saturday's. If there was a sports event on radio, we listened to it. I was very blessed to grow up with many now- legendary voices and characters. Today, I want to pay tribute to Joe Dean.

Joe Dean grew up in New Albany, Indiana, where he played basketball for New Albany High School. Influenced by his coach, Dean chose to attend college at LSU, where he was a star player. In 2009, he was named to the LSU All-Century Team. Other members include Pete Maravich and Shaquille O'Neal. He is best known, though, for his work as a color analyst for Southeastern Conference basketball games, which he covered for 18 years. He coined the phrase "String Music" and is also known for other phrases such as, "Stufferino" and "Lexington, K-Y." During his run, he worked with NBC, TBS, ESPN, TVS and Jefferson Pilot.

Dean retired from announcing in 1987 and became athletic director at LSU. During his 14-year tenure, the LSU baseball team won five national championships, while the men's and women's track teams accounted for 22 national championships combined. At the time of his retirement, the 27 national championships under Dean's guidance were an SEC record. Dean is a member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. I loved Joe Dean's voice and I miss him on SEC basketball games. He was major part of my Saturday's during my growing up years. He was, without a doubt, one of the legendary characters in Southeastern Conference history. Joe Dean died on November 17, 2013. He was 83.

(Joe Dean and former University of Kentucky basketball coach Joe B. Hall.)

The Threads Of Life

My grandmother, Dimple Speck, was born on this date, March 8, in 1918. It's hard losing your grandparents. Things never get back to the way they were. So many things in my life ended with the passing of my grandparents, Cecil and Dimple Speck, in 1986. After he died, she said that she did not want to live without him, and two weeks later she passed away. It was a sad time for my family. They were the cornerstone of our daily lives. Everything was built around them; holiday meals, love, encouragement and solid to the core advice. Suddenly all of that ended, never to be again, only remembered.

I spent many nights at their home. In later years, most of my time there was spent sitting at the kitchen table listening to my grandmother tell stories that were mostly about her childhood. As I sat their listening, I would envision the things she would talk about. I think that is where my passion for writing began. Her most favorite thing to do there at her table was to read from the bible. It is said that her father would do the very same thing. The sad part of this story is that as I grew older, I let things drag me away from that kitchen table. She asked me why I had stopped coming to see her and I felt so ashamed. She died before I could get back there and I sorely regret that today.

I believe the people that come into our lives; family, friends, neighbors, even strangers we meet, are there for a purpose. Some come and go while others stay around for a while. I think as we get older, we are able to retain certain memories and recall certain times in our lives for a reason. Like patchwork, the threads of life are woven together to make us what we are or what we are to become. Life is fragile and the older I get, the more aware I am of just how fragile it really is.

In the two weeks between his death and hers, my grandmother began writing a poem but died before she could complete it. My dad finished it for her.

"Today, Lord, I'm leaving
My loved ones and my home
But I won't be fearing
For I won't be alone
You'll be there beside me
When I cross to the other shore
Home Sweet Home eternal
Never to die no more."

I miss Dimple Speck. Of all the things I inherited from her, the mere recollection of her is more dearest to me.

The Pace Of Life

I am not a fan of cold snowy weather but I have to admit this "slowing down" of life and activities this week because of the snow is kind of nice. Nothing's wrong with doing it every now and then. It has been a while since we have experienced a "slow down" such as this. Sometimes we need to take a little break and just breathe, spend quality time with family, catch up on projects, read a book, etc.

With school out and many businesses closed, our local county cooperative extension service held a Snow Day photo contest, which resulted in some amazing photographs of the snow and the beautiful countryside where I live. It has been refreshing, to say the least (click here). If it takes an act of mother nature to make us see that there is more to life than the normal hustle and bustle routine, then so be it. A few days away from that isn't going to hurt us at all.

The way the weather has brought things to a halt, or near that, this week has reminded me of one of the more famous episodes of the Andy Griffith Show. "Man in a Hurry" first aired on January 14, 1963 (season three, episode 16). In that episode, Robert Emhardt plays Malcolm Tucker, a motorist who becomes frustrated with Mayberry's simple, relaxed ways. His car breaks down on the outskirts of town and he hopes to have it repaired in time to attend his meeting in Charlotte the next morning. Unfortunately, it's Sunday and Wally the mechanic refuses to do it. Finally, Gomer agrees to have a look at it, but not before Mr. Tucker learns a valuable lesson about the pace of life.

Barney: You know what I think I'm gonna do?
Andy: What?
Barney: I'm gonna go home, have me a little nap and go over to Thelma Lou's and watch a little TV.
Andy: Mmm-hmm.
Barney: Yeah, I believe that's what I'll do: go home... have a nap... then over to Thelma Lou's for TV.
Andy: Mmm-hmm.
Barney: Yep. That's the plan: right home... a little nap...
Mr. Tucker: (explodes) For the love of Mike, do it, do it. Just do it! Go take a nap, go to Thelma Lou's for TV. Just do it!
Barney: What's the hurry. (gets up to go) I'll see ya, Anj.

After spending the day with Andy at his home, Mr. Tucker begins to re-assess his values and priorities. It is a lesson we all can learn from. Even though we all have things we need to get back to, and we will soon enough, take a moment to slow down and enjoy life.

For the love of Mike, do it, do it. Just do it!

Buddy Holly: The Decca Recordings

The first major record label Buddy Holly recorded for was Decca Records in Nashville. The Decca recordings failed to produce a hit single, but after Buddy had some success with recordings on the Brunswick and Coral labels, Decca decided to package the 1956 tunes into an album. That'll Be The Day was the third and final studio album released before Buddy Holly's death on February 3, 1959. Recorded January 26, July 22 and November 15, 1956 at Bradley Film and Recording Studios, 804 16th Ave. So., Nashville, Tennessee, the album was released in April of 1958, ten months before Buddy's death.

"That'll Be The Day (Decca, 1958)"
(Side 1) You Are My One Desire, Blue Days Black Nights, Modern Don Juan, Rock Around With Ollie Vee, Ting A Ling and Girl On My Mind. (Side 2) That'll Be the Day (July 22 version), Love Me, I’m Changing All Those Changes, Don’t Come Back Knockin’ and Midnight Shift.

On October 14, 1955, Buddy, Bob Montgomery and Larry Welborn performed at Fair Park Coliseum in Lubbock in a show featuring Bill Haley and The Comets and Jimmy Snow. Eddie Crandall, a Nashville agent for country singer Marty Robbins, watched their performance. 14 days later, the trio appeared at the same venue, opening for Marty Robbins. Crandall see's Buddy perform again.

About the first of December, Crandall wrote to “Pappy” Dave Stone, radio station KDAV manager, asking for exclusive rights to help Buddy obtain a recording contract. He needed a recording of four original songs. On December 7th, Buddy, Don Guess and Jerry Allison drove to Wichita Falls to record at Nesman Recording Studio. The four songs: Love Me, Don’t Come Back Knockin’, Moonlight Baby, and I Guess I Was Just A Fool were submitted on acetate to Decca.

Around January 23, 1956, Buddy negotiated a recording contract with Decca and a three-year songwriter’s contract with Cedarwood Publishing Company. The first session on January 26th in Nashville included Buddy, Sonny Curtis and Don Guess under the name, Buddy and the Two Tones. They and the Nashville musicians recorded four songs: Blue Days, Black Nights, Don’t Come Back Knockin’, Love Me and Midnight Shift.

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Buddy's legal name was Charles Hardin Holley. On February 8th, he received Decca’s contract from Jim Denny of Cedarwood Publishing. Someone had inadvertently left out the E in his last name. As a result, Buddy adopted the Holly spelling for his last name.

On July 22, 1956 Holly, Curtis, Guess, and Jerry Allison went to Nashville for the second Decca recording session. The songs that were recorded were I’m Changing All Those Changes, Girl On My Mind, Rock Around With Ollie Vee, Ting-A-Ling and a slowed-down version That’ll Be The Day, which was also four steps higher than the later hit record released on Brunswick. Buddy detested the Decca version.

On November 15th, Buddy returned to Nashville for the third and final recording session with Decca. Rock Around With Ollie Vee, Modern Don Juan and You Are My One Desire were recorded.

The complete personnel list from the Decca recording sessions was: Buddy Holly — vocal & guitar, Sonny Curtis — lead guitar, Grady Martin — rhythm guitar, Doug Kirkham — bass and percussion, Don Guess — bass, Jerry Allison — drums, Harold Bradley — guitar, Floyd Cramer — piano, Farris Coursey — drums, E.R. “Dutch” McMillan — alto saxophone, Owen Bradley — piano and Boots Randolph — saxophone.

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On January 22, 1957, Decca informed Buddy that his renewal option was not going to be exercised and that his contract would expire on January 26, 1957. On February 24th and 25th, Buddy traveled to the Norman Petty Studio in Clovis, New Mexico and recorded I’m Looking For Someone To Love and what would become the hit version of That’ll Be The Day. Besides Holly, the other players were Larry Welborn on bass, Allison on drums and Niki Sullivan, Gary Tollett and Ramona Tollett singing sing background vocals on That’ll Be The Day.

Afterwards, Buddy found out he was restricted from recording any of the songs that were done under his contract with Decca. A name, other than Buddy Holly, would be needed in order to release the new version of That’ll Be The Day. Buddy's group considered briefly, then discarded The Beetles before selecting The Crickets.

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Norman Petty was able to secure a record deal for The Crickets with Brunswick Records and a record deal for Buddy Holly as a solo artist with Coral Records. Buddy knew Norman Petty's recording of That'll Be the Day was special. He sold the future hit to Brunswick and when Decca got wind of it, they tried to sue Brunswick before realizing they owned Brunswick. They also found out they owned Coral as well.

Over the next month, the make up of The Crickets came together as: Buddy Holly, vocals and lead guitar; Jerry Allison, drums; Joe Mauldin, bass; and Niki Sullivan, rhythm guitar. After Buddy was killed, his eventual replacement became Sonny Curtis, who still sings lead for the Crickets today.

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("Buddy Holly Collector's Edition", 2008)

Buddy Holly "The Collector's Edition," is a 3-CD package that comes with a booklet that tells much of the history of Buddy Holly. It comes in an attractive collectors tin box. The last CD is a reissue of the MCA release of the Decca recordings, minus Ting-A-Ling. It's what I have been listening to lately. All of the recordings are great, with the exception of the slowed-down higher-pitched version of That'll Be The Day.

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This 1967 release, "The Great Buddy Holly," on Vocalion Records is a collection of the Decca recordings, minus Ting-A-Ling.

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This 1982 release, "The Great Buddy Holly," on MCA Records is a reissue of the 1967 Vocalion Records release of the Decca recordings, minus Ting-A-Ling.

The Talking Bible

The American Bible Society's The Talking Bible, an audio recording of the King James Version bible, was first recorded on vinyl around 1950. The project, narrated by actor Alexander Scourby who is heralded as having the greatest voice ever recorded, was done on behalf of the American Foundation for the Blind. It took more than four years to complete, but it was a best-seller. The records, which have the titles etc. in brail on one side and writing on the other side, are now part of the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.

The Talking Bible in vinyl was recorded using the 16 2/3 rpm format, which was used for a short period of time beginning in 1950. The speed, mostly too slow for recording music, was perfect for recording spoken words. Play time was almost double that of a 33 1/3 rpm record.

The 10-inch16 2/3 rpm records were considered novelties even during the years they were available. For obvious reasons, the invention of the cassette killed the 16 2/3 rpm format. But, for a brief era, it served a specific and useful purpose. This historic Talking Bible vinyl set (15 records of the new testament) is a nice addition to my growing record collection.

The Murder of James Holt

James Holt came to Kentucky from Virginia. He married Rebecca Brown in 1825 and they settled on Illwill Creek in Clinton County, where James took up farming and they began raising a family.

When Rebecca died years later, James decided to move out west. It was about 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon of Friday, November 15, 1850, when James stopped by a dram shop at Old Jackson in the northern part of Lawrence County, Arkansas and commenced to drinking. While doing so, he very imprudently remarked that he was prepared to pay one-thousand dollars down for a tract of land.

No one took him up on his offer so James mounted his horse and left. He was going to take his search for land elsewhere. After traveling only a short distance, Holt came upon a man by the name of James Minor, who was standing in the road. Holt stopped and asked how far it was to a place where he could bed down for the night. After the two men talked, Holt started to ride on, but as he passed by, Minor, who was still standing in the road, struck him across the forehead with the barrel of his rifle.

Sometime during the night, Holt woke up in a wooded area. He had been beaten and robbed of his money, horse, pistols and anything else of any value, and left for dead. After wandering about in the woods for some time, he found a road and managed to make it to a home not too far away. But, his injuries were too severe and James Holt died the next day.

A posse of thirty armed men took off after Minor. After a pursuit of some thirty miles, they came upon him and his wife, and another man, Samuel McGhee, who had been an accomplice in the killing. As the posse was bringing them in, Minor leaped from his horse and dived into Leven Point River as they were crossing it. Luckily, one of the members of the posse jumped in after him and Minor was recaptured.

All of Holt's belongings were recovered, including the money. A jury did not believe Minor's claim of self-defense and on December 6, 1850, he and McGhee were executed for the murder and robbery of James Holt.

Remembering Buddy Holly in 2015

For me, every day is a Buddy Holly day, not just on Feb. 3rd, the anniversary of the day the music died. I've been a Buddy 'Holly-ic' as long as I can remember. In 1990, I found and purchased "The Complete Buddy Holly," a $100 valued set of the entire discography, for $20 at a Somerset pawn shop.

Since then, I have been able to secure the autographs of the remaining Crickets as well as the real Peggy Sue, who sent me a copy of her book. Tommy Allsup, the session guitarist on many of Buddy's recordings, was on that ill-fated 1959 tour. He was supposed to be on the plane with Buddy but Ritchie Valens, who was sick, won a coin toss and boarded the plane instead. In 1990, Allsup came to Burkesville, along with Nashville session fiddle player, Buddy Spicher, and performed at a barbecue put on by the late Tom Parkman. Lucky for me, I was friends with Parkman so I was invited to attend his party. While there, I took a picture of Tommy Allsup and got his autograph. When I mentioned I was a Buddy Holly fanatic, he just lowered his head and did not reply. The only Buddy Holly-related autograph I was never able to get was Crickets guitarist Niki Sullivan and Waylon Jennings, who was also on the 1959 tour as Buddy's bass player.

Buddy Holly's music was fresh and energetic. Buddy knew how to arrange. Vie Petty's piano playing on those songs is amazing and, of course, Buddy Holly was a phenomenal guitarist. Buddy Holly greatly influenced the Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. Buddy once said, "Without Elvis, none of us would be here." In the mid 70's, before his own death, Elvis said, "Looking back over the last 20 years, I guess the guy I've admired most in rock and roll is Buddy Holly." Now, that's respect. On January 31, 1959, Robert Zimmerman, the future Bob Dylan, went to see Buddy Holly perform at the Duluth, Minnesota National Guard Armory. Three days later, Buddy was killed. Accepting a Grammy for Album of the Year for Time Out Of Mind in 1998, Dylan said: "When I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at Duluth National Guard Armory and I was three feet away from him…and he looked at me. And I just have some sort of feeling that he was — I don't know how or why — but I know he was with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way."

Here is a nice 'local' connection to Buddy Holly. Sonny West wrote two of the Crickets' hits: Rave On and Oh Boy. In 1960, he started frequenting Mike's 66 Bar on Route 66 in Grants, New Mexico. The reason was a guitar player by the name of George Hudson. George was my dads guitar playing partner and friend. Every year at this time I try to write something about Buddy Holly, to help bring some awareness of Buddy Holly to my little corner of the world. It's not so much about the day the music died as it is about the man who took rock and roll to a whole other level. In his book, "Rock 'n' Roll: The 100 Best Singles," Paul Williams wrote, "It only fully became rock and roll when Buddy Holly started singing it."

Rave on...Buddy Holly Lives!

"Memories will follow me forever, Tho' I know our dreams cannot come true, All those precious things we shared together, Time goes by, I'll still remember you" (from Buddy's song, That Makes It Tough).