To Everything there is a Season

I was thinking about this photo that appeared in my Facebook history this morning. The year was 2011. It was Halloween. Jerry Perdue and I were at Stony Point's fall festival, and there they were, Ralph Clark and Buddy Bell, two legends on stage with Cartwright Express. We couldn't wait to ask for a photograph. The plan was for us to take each others' photo, only after I took this photo I got distracted somehow and missed my opportunity to have my photo taken with them.

For a long time, I was a little bit jealous that Jerry had gotten his photo made with these icons and not I, because we never had another opportunity to be together, the three of us, as Buddy died on Jan. 17, 2012 and Ralph died on Aug. 30, 2014, and then Jerry died on Thanksgiving Day in 2017.

Time and tide wait for no man. As I get older I realize more and more that some things are just inevitable - birth, death, the sun rising in the morning, and the passage of time. There is no way to control those things.

The bible says 'to everything there is a season, a time to be born, a time to die; a time to build up, a time to weep, a time to laugh and a time to mourn.' (Ecclesiaste 3)

I miss those guys. Funny how this photo, the one I was once jealous of, now means the world to me. 💕

Bookout

On April 16, 1953 the New Era reported that 29 men had gone to Louisville for Armed Forces physical examinations. Among them was Robinson Elvin Angel. He was one month shy of celebrating his 20th birthday when Uncle Sam called. He and seven others left for Louisville and induction into the U.S. Army on July 7th. The others were James Cook, Haden Dicken, Arthur Stockton, Freddie Boils, Buford Bowlin, John Nuszbaum and Lowell Davis. It was during the Korean War and Elvin was in the army for two years. For 18 months he was stationed in Alaska.

Hershell Key tells a story about Elvin's sergeant ordering him to clean a rifle. It wasn't his rifle, so Ervin said no. The sergeant repeated his command, "I said to clean that rifle!" Elvin replied, "I ain't gonna do it!" So, Hershell said, Elvin was sent to Alaska.That may or not be the exact reason, but it's funny to hear Hershell tell it that way.

When he returned home, Elvin joined the class of 1957 during their sophomore year. In the local newspaper column, Senior Class News, someone wrote "Elvin has been an asset to the class and we are proud to have this veteran among the members of our class." Elvin was 24 years old when he graduated from CCHS.

Elvin's nickname was Bookout. A couple of his friends I spoke with did not know how he got that name. One of his close friends, Harvey Aaron, said he once asked Elvin how he got it, but he couldn't remember.

By all accounts, Bookout was a great baseball and softball player. I read where, in 1957, he was a member of a softball team sponsored by Conner Motel, along with the likes of John B. Smith, Page Cook and James Brown. Another teammate and classmate, Gene Latham, said Bookout was a great pitcher. He played softball for several years.

Gene tells this story: "Bookout stood 5 feet and 5 inches tall and for the U.S. Army, the minimum weight requirement for his heighth was 116 pounds. Bookout weighed 117 pounds when he went for his physical examination. He said if he had known the minimum weight requirement was 116 pounds, he would have weighed 116 pounds!"

Robinson Elvin Angel was born on May 28, 1933, the son of the William Albert & Lula Mae Daniels Angel. His wife, Brenda Gibbons Angel, preceded him in death. Bookout was known by many. We will miss seeing him walking around town. He always walked.

Thanks to Harvey Aaron for the photo.

John Fogerty is Finally Reunited with his Songs After 50 Years

It's official, according to Billboard Magazine, John Fogerty has gained worldwide control of his Creedence Clearwater Revival publishing rights after a half-century struggle. He just posted the following on his Facebook page. "As of this January, I own my own songs again. This is something I thought would never be a possibility. After 50 years, I am finally reunited with my songs."

To think about the CCR catalogue is to relive my pre-teen years. The band's most prolific and successful period began in 1969 when I was about to turn 10. For two years, CCR had a dozen consecutive top 10 singles and five consecutive top 10 albums. The band broke up in 1972, but by then we already had all of those great songs: "Bad Moon Rising," "Lodi," "Proud Mary," "Green River," "Down on the Corner," "Have You Ever Seen The Rain," "Heard it Through the Grapevine," "Run Through the Jungle," "Up Around the Bend," "Travelin' Man," "Long as I Can See the Light" and "Lookin' Out My Back Door." "Suzie Q" had already been a bit in 1968.

My favorite CCR songs were "Bad Moon Rising," "Lodi" and "Proud Mary." I have a recording of my brother, Ronnie, age eight, and myself, age eleven, jamming to "Proud Mary." He is singing and playing drums and I am playing piano and singing the repeat line on the word, "Rollin'."

Fogerty had relinquished his artist royalties to Saul Zaentz at Fantasy Records in 1980 to get out of his Fantasy deal. “I tried really hard,” he says to get them back in the decades since he signed his label and publishing deal in 1968 with Fantasy but suffered setback after setback at the hands of Zaentz, who died in 2014.

For years, Fogerty refused to play CCR songs live, unable to stomach Zaentz making money off his performances, but he softened his stance in 1987 with a little prodding from Bob Dylan during a concert in Hollywood that included Dylan, Fogerty and George Harrison. “The crowd started asking for ‘Proud Mary. Bob said, ‘John, if you don’t do ‘Proud Mary,’ everybody’s gonna think it’s a Tina Turner song,’” referencing Ike & Tina Turner’s 1971 cover. Fogerty sang the song and later that year, began incorporating CCR songs back into his set list.

When Concord bought Fantasy Records in 2004, one of the first moves the company made was to reinstate and increase Fogerty’s artist royalties, which he hadn't received in 25 years. Under the new agreement, Concord retains the CCR master recordings already in its catalog and will continue to administer Fogerty’s share of the publishing catalog for an unspecified limited time.

Fact #1: CCR’s Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits, released in 1976, has spent 622 non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200, the fifth highest of any album on the chart.

Fact #2: The music of Creedence Clearwater Revival has never left radio.

Mike Rogers and an Ungrateful Duck

My friend, Mike Rogers, told me a very story about his attempt to rescue a duck that was being chased by a dog.

"Rosie and I were on our way to church yesterday when a little black duck ran out in front of us with a large German shepherd chasing it. I swerved off the road and gave chase as the duck, the shepherd and I ran over the hill behind Slick Lowhorn's building on the Tennessee Road.

The duck went under some tree roots and before the dog could get him I caught up and slapped the canine on his rear end, Startled the dog ran off and the duck started climbing back up the steep hill when I caught up to him and snatched him to safety. Holding "Daffy" to my chest I looked down at him and said, "I guess I saved your life." Immediately, he reached up and bit me on my lip!! (very ungrateful}

I took him back to the car and handed him to Rosie and she held him untill we arrived at church. He was quiet calm now until I reached down to take him from Rosie and he bit me again. As I carried him down to the creek the ungrateful bird turned his head towards me but I made sure to keep my distance. When I sat him down on the ground next to the creek he turned towards me again, then looked at the water, wagged his tail and jumped in swimming off to another day.

All is well that ends well!"

The Town Fire of 1926

On March 20, 1926, a fire started in the Gainesboro Telephone office on the Southside of the Albany square and destroyed the entire block, including the G.A. Guinn residence, N.L. Morgan residence, Wes Lee and Claude Brent residences, First Christian Church, Dr. William L. Story's drug store, Dr. John Sloan's office and garage, W.L. Perkins' garage and Smith & Stailey Drug Store. The New Era reported the loss was about $60,000 with only about $700 insurance. They were all frame buildings. The fire at the church destroyed the original building. The church was started in 1834. After the fire, the congregation made their own bricks and moved into the new building, the one in use today, on November 6, 1927

Living Past the Century Mark

Elizabeth Booher Parrigin, who lived in Clinton County, was born on Jan. 11, 1797. She lived to be 105 years of age was the oldest living person in Kentucky when she died.

Elizabeth was born in Sullivan County, Tennessee and moved to Clinton County in the fall of 1858. At the time of her death she was living with her great- grandson, Clinton County Judge C.B. Parrigin two miles north of Albany.

The unique thing about Elizabeth is that she lived in three different centuries and up to her death, under every president of the United States.

On Nov. 15, 1901, when she was 104 years and ten months old, the Green County Record reported that she could still recite many incidents from her childhood and was in fair health.

Elizabeth died on April 13, 1902. She and her husband, Henry, are buried at Albany Cemetery. He died in 1892, at the age of 93.

The Big Five Were Small in Stature, Big of Heart

The date was Nov. 17, 1942. It was the middle of WWII. The basketball team at Albany High School had won four games and lost three and with only a handful of games left to play before district tournament first year head coach Raymond Reneau left the team, and Albany, for the U.S. Army and the war in Europe. Principal L.H. Robinson would have to coach the team the rest of the way.

Prof was no stranger to this challenge. While principal of Ewing High School in Fleming County, before coming here, he had also coached basketball. In fact, he coached the first team from Ewing to ever win a regional basketball tournament. So he took control of the Bulldogs team. They won the last three regular season games on the schedule and in the 38th district tournament, the Bulldogs swept past their two opponents, Marrowbone and Burkesville, and for the first time in the history of the school, a basketball had won the district tournament.

Marrowbone had a very strong team but they just couldn't do anything with the Bulldogs. The game started off with every spectator on his feet. Both teams played evenly in the first quarter, but it didn't take long for the Bulldogs to realize what the game meant to them. From then on, Marrowbone could only watch as the Albany boys went to town. The score was never again close. It was 9-to-6 at the end of the first quarter, 19 to 8 at halftime, 32 to 12 at the end of the third quarter and the final score was 41-to-21.

The Albany boys were a little tired at the start of the game against Burkesville, but they wound up playing very good ball, winning the game 49-to-23. Two players, Randolph Smith and Russell Long, were named to the all-tournament team and each received a gold basketball. The captain of the Bulldogs, Robert Chilton, received a very beautiful trophy on behalf of the team. Albany should feel proud that they have such a splendid basketball team.

The New Era newspaper wrote, "The team played exceptionally good ball, but they couldn't have played so good if it hadn't been for their very good coach, L.H. Robinson. Due respect should be paid Coach Robinson for his marvelous work with the boys." Coach Robinson referred to his team as 'the big five.' "They were small in stature, but big of heart and had the will to win," he said. The five starters were Smith at center, Gordon Armstrong and Paul Jones were the forwards and Chilton and Long were the guards. "Those boys ran set plays to perfection and their defense simply smothered the opposition," Coach Robinson said."

Albany lost to Tompkinsville by one point in the 5th region tournament at Glasgow. The following year, 1944, the Bulldogs repeated as champions of the 38th District, again under the leadership of L.H. Robinson. In his three seasons as head coach, Robinson's teams won 24 games and lost 13, two back to back district tournament championships and a district runner-up trophy in the third year.

Coach Reneau returned to the sidelines for the 1945-46 season, guiding his team to a runner-up title in the newly aligned 20th district. He would be head coach for the remainder of the 1940's, winning 82 games and losing 43. His 1948-49 team was the school's first ever team to win twenty games (20-5).

Thomas Chalmers - O Holy Night (Edison Records, 1914)

O Holy Night was originally a poem written by Frenchman Placide Cappeau in 1843. Composer Adolphe Adam set it to music in 1847 and John Sullivan Dwight of Boston, Massachusetts translated it to English in 1855.

About my disk...

Opera singer Thomas Chalmers, who was born in New York City almost thirty years later, recorded this version of "O Holy Night" (Edison Records 82055-R) on January 9, 1914 at the Edison Recording Studio in Manhattan, New York. It was pressed onto a 78rpm 10 inch-disk that is a quarter inch thick.

It is being played on my 1919 Edison Phonograph, which was purchased by someone at Drennen Piano Company in Orlando, Florida between 1919 and 1927.

Fred Thrasher Art Collection Up For Online Auction

The legendary Fred Thrasher, a local artist from Albany, Ky, whose works depicted the America of yesterday seen through the eyes of today, was a fixture of the art community for decades, with his final work coming in 2014.

The themes of nature, of home, and of times gone by and our own fond recollections of them would go on to span across hundreds of paintings.

Certain themes would be revisited, often with a seasonal flair – the same setting would be revisited across all four seasons, showing both the passage of time but also how each season affords it’s setting its own specific charm and beauty.

His “four seasons” collections would become some of his most prized works. Describing his art, Fred once noted “with all the traffic and busy hustle of daily life, I feel that if I can take someone back to a place that’s full of peaceful memories, even just for five or ten minutes, I’ve accomplished something.”

For the next thirty five years, he would travel around, visiting and working with galleries, studios, festivals, state fairs, and conventions to forge the relationships that would make his art a success and build the connections with those who enjoyed his work that, in many ways, was the true gift of his art career.

As a portion of the Fred Thrasher Estate, the collection will go online for auction just after Thanksgiving with the online auction closing at 6 p.m. on Friday, December 9th on www.fordbrothersinc.com. For more details, call 606.256.4545.

- Mary Ellis

Fred Thrasher was One of the Most Popular Artists of our Time

Drawing and painting became an obsession Fred Thrasher developed during grade school, ascribing his inspiration for drawing and painting to his fourth grade teacher. He had no formal training when he entered his profession full time in 1977. He put down his memories of growing up in a modest environment in Clinton County on canvas; nature scenes, landscapes and historical landmarks, and that's what his paintings were famous for.

"I was driving home one night on Highway 90," he said, "and stopped off at a stream to get a drink of water. I just looked around at how beautiful it was and thought this would be a painting I would buy and put in my home."

It didn't take long for Fred, who was born on this day in 1938, to become one of the most popular artists of our time, renowned and respected for more than four decades.

Getting it Done: Big Jim DeForest & the Mighty Bulldogs

It had been fifteen years since the Mighty Bulldogs had won the district basketball tournament when they did it on March 7, 1959. It was the beginning of the golden era of basketball under Coach Lindle Castle.

"Just who said the Bulldogs couldn't do it," wrote sports writer James Paul Allen in the Clinton County News, after the dark horse team in the tournament, who had drawn a bye in the first round, showed up in the semi-final game to defeat Cumberland County 64-to-48, and then Marrowbone in the next night's championship game, 80-to-72. "It was the first district championship for C.C.H.S. since 1944," wrote Allen, "and all it took was a team of well-trained boys and the right kind of coaching."

Enter Principal Prof Robinson and his thoughts:

"I watched C.C.H.S. play Burkesville and was convinced that the team had jelled. Big Jim DeForest was cleaning the boards like eras­ing chalk from a blackboard with an eraser. Our guards were tormenting the enemy...our bench strength was ever ready. When Coach Castle was challenged to find a man for a position, he could easily lay his hand on that man....a man is always taller when he accepts the challenge. When a boy does a big job, and does it well - manly, honestly, fairly, square­ly - he feels taller and he looks and acts taller. The defeat of Marrowbone was sweet revenge for the hungry Bulldogs. A fifteen-year fast was broken."

Highpoints of the tournament: Jim DeForest, 55 points in back-to-back games.

All-District Players: DeForest, Jackie Latham

Over the next nine seasons, Clinton County would win four more district championships, one regional championship and two district runner-up trophies. 174 wins, 83 losses.

Jim Deforest was recruited by Eastern Kentucky University and played one year of college ball there before transferring to Austin Peay State College, where he excelled in his first season as a sophomore, averaging 11 points and 6 rebounds per game, and helped the Governors win their seventh straight regular season championship, making the all-tournament team at the 1964 Volunteer State Conference tournament held in Nashville.

After college, we came to know him as 'Coach D, and as a teacher at CCHS. Well-respected, loved and adored. Great memories of a wonderful man and friend to so many.

(In the photo, Coach Castle returns to the bench following a time-out, as senior Jim Deforest (50) continues to discuss strategy with freshman Kenny Conner, while Bob Reneau (30) and the other players return to the floor.)