A great rock song

Danny Joe Brown is Flirtin' with Disaster. Molly Hatchett from the Kirshner show. Not great quality but it catches the feeling. And here's another version with an ailing DJB still able to belt it out. Made the hairs on my neck stand up when he kicked in.

Sean Flynn

Remains may be his. From the LA Times.

Nathan Deal

He says he's being targeted unfairly by Pelosi and Co. Maybe. But he could still be a bag of doo.

Elmore Leonard's Justified

Ken Tucker loves Justified and I think I'm going to agree. Caught the second episode and really enjoyed it. Just so happens I read the short story that led to the series last summer. The shows catches the feel. Star Tim Olyphant played Sheriff Bullock on Deadwood and is very good in this little sleeper from Victor Nunez filmed in part on St. George Island.

Nathan Deal

I'd vote for Urban Meyer before I'd vote for Nathan Deal, but this sounds like pretty thin soup. Still, it'll hurt in a tight field.

An F in bracketology

My Sunday column. From The Summerville News.

"I wipe my nose on a Taco Bell napkin"

Jackie and Dunlap discuss healthcare.

Food

Baconfest is this weekend. As if you didn't already know.

On the border

Slideshow takes you inside smuggling tunnels.

Chavez

Opponent jailed. I wonder how Sean Penn would play this?

Dope

Outlaw pot growers fear legalization. Exactly!

New home sales flat

Unexpectedly or expectedly, the bad news continues.

O ... Canada

Coulter chased from university speech. Will try again "with berka."

Movies

Marvel picks its Captain America.

Dope

Cash starved NY lawmakers consider legelization. Thinking outside the box is good.

Dalton gets boost from feds

Dalton Utilities to benefit from federal funds in nuclear plant project.

Politics

Pelosi and Reid. Jeepers, I'm more popular than these two.

The robots are coming

Nanobots deliver treatment .... or so they claim.

Your Sunday free tune

Jim and Jesse pursue Slewfoot. "Some folks say he looks a lot like me!" And here's their version of Nine Pound Hammer.

Movies

Netflix lets you track down a lot of obscure films, the kind the critics love. But it also is a storehouse of the tried and true. I dipped into that category this week, renting Louisiana Purchase and Never Say Die, a pair of Bob Hope vehicles. They came on the same disc and both are quite funny.
Never Say Die is the better film. Martha Raye and Andy Devine do their stuff with relish and Hope clearly loves working with them. Hope plays a millionaire hypochondriac who mistakenly thinks he's about to die. There's a pack of ner-do-wells after Bob's cash.
It's a goofy, funny comedy with a little music to boot.
In Louisiana Purchase Hope is funny as a crooked politician being investigated by an eccentric U.S. Senator played by the great Victor Moore. Music and dance play a bigger part in this one and it's not as funny, though still worthy of a look.
Hope was great during this era and shines in both of these silly, funny films.

Reds

Russians stage massive protests.

Neal Boortz

Our kids will curse us for years to come if ObamaCare passes.

Econ 101

Things to come? India targets inflation.

On the border

Did Southern Poverty Law Center smear anti-immigration group? Were they cahootin' with La Raza? From The American Spectator.

Warren's World

The old man plays the fool. I bet all the unemployed Shaw workers think this is hilarious.

WW II

Finland's master sniper. Via Instapundit. 700 kills?

Your government in action

Computer booboo made life miserable for elderly couple. But the cops ARE sorry!

My most recent column

What's in a name? And in case you missed it And the Tooga goes to ...

George Will

Obama education changes just add to federal stupidity.

Food

The Big Cheese selected in Wisconsin. Kudos to the Swiss.

Alex Chilton, RIP

From Rolling Stone. The indie rocker remembered. Pop songs don't get much better than The Letter

Dope

The Irish crack down on head shops. Of course you have to suffer a "Blarney stoned" headline but the article is interesting.

Politics

California union pension funds are handcuffing an already economically crippled state financially. Do you think Jerry Brown is likely to deal effectively with that reality?

Econ 101 II

Is Chinese economy the greatest bubble ever? Investor says forget China and Russia. Look to Brazil and India for sustained growth.

Econ 101

The Irish economy begins to rebound in part by following sound economic principles. Would someone please show this article to Obama, Pelosi and Co., not that they want to allow this recession to go by without milking it for everyt systemtic governmental advantage they can add.

And the Tooga goes to ...

As it always does the Oscar ceremony on Sunday night reminded me how much I loved movies. I don’t get to see as many as I would like now, but over the years I’ve seen thousands, including quite a few at the old Tooga Theater.
I miss that place.
Being a small town theater in the Deep South, the Tooga booked not only high dollar blockbusters like “Patton” and “The Sound of Music” but also a lot of not-so-high dollar genre “classics.”
Following is my version of the Oscars, featuring movies I saw at the Tooga back in those halcyon days (and nights).

Best Supporting Actress
Stella Stevens (The Nutty Professor)
P.J. Soles (Halloween)
Natalie Trundy (Battle for the Planet of the Apes)
Nancy Kovack (Frankie and Johnny)
Susan Sosa (Billy Jack)

Natalie Trundy’s performance as Lisa the Talking Chimpanzee is hard to beat and P.J. Soles gets nekkid, but the winner is …. Susan Sosa, who played the American Indian teen who had the flower dumped on her head by one of the main villains in Billy Jack. Ms. Sosa never acted again.

Best Supporting Actor
Buddy Hackett (The Love Bug)
Nick Castle (Halloween)
Jim Nabors (Stroker Ace)
Alex Rocco (Stanley)
Bert Freed (Billy Jack)

I may be the world’s biggest Buddy Hackett fan and his performance as Tennessee Steinmetz (no kidding) is a dazzler. But the award goes to Bert Freed, for being the the perfect target for Tom Laughlin’s classic boot in the face in Billy Jack. The hero calmly informs Freed’s character that he’s gonna take his right foot and “whop” him right in the face with it and “there’s nothing he can do about it.” And he does. “Whopped” him real good!

Best Actress
Linda Blair (The Exorcist)
Donna Douglass (Frankie and Johnny)
Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween)
Marilyn Burns (Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
Deloris Taylor (Billy Jack)

Three horror pictures landed nominations for their stars and it looked like they might split the vote. But Linda Blair could not be denied. Any actress who can learn how to rotate her head 360 degrees and throw up on people standing 10 feet away deserves all the awards she can get.

Best Actor
William Marshall (Blacula)
Joe Don Baker (Walking Tall)
Tom Laughlin (Billy Jack)
Jerry Lewis (The Nutty Professor)
Elvis Presley (Frankie and Johnnie)

Four powerhouse stars (and William Marshall) vied for this award and some other fine actors (Donald Pleasence, Dean Jones and Stanley the Rattlesnake) didn’t even make it to the final vote. That’s how tough this category was. This ain’t France, so Jerry Lewis didn’t win and as an actor, Elvis is a very good singer. William Marshall was fine as Blacula; he certainly scared the dickens out of me. Tom Laughlin, thanks to the “whop” scene was a very strong contender, but the sheer genius of Joe Don Baker swinging that big, wooden club and smitin’ hillbilly crooks cannot be denied. The winner … Joe Don Baker.

Best Picture
Walking Tall
Stanley
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Halloween
Billy Jack
The Love Bug
Rollerball
The Nutty Professor
RaceWith the Devil

As with the Academy Awards we have 10 films in the Best Picture category. The competition for this award was fierce and I spent many a sleepless night trying to get it right. Well … one semi-sleepless night. In the end, the zany goings on of Texas Chainsaw Massacre could not be trumped. That was one scary motion picture and I am still psychologically scarred by it. Cool, huh? The winner … The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Good night, drive safely and remember, the low-budget, blood-drenched, sleazily-titled piece of cinematic garbage of today, could one day be someone’s treasured film classic. Or not.

Jimmy Espy is a writer for The Summerville News. His five favorite movies are Blade Runner, The Wild Bunch, Blazing Saddles, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Duck Soup.

The Hall of Fame shame game

A fine bit of reporting from the AJC. Why do I think no one will remember these screwups as soon as the economy starts rolling again.

Spirits

Take your stinking paws off that burgundy you damned dirty ape.

Books

Sometimes I just want to read a goofy science fiction novel and everything about Daniel Da Cruz's "Grotto of the Formigans" indicated that it would fit the bill nicely.
It did.
An African American anthropologist goes to Africa to study a tribe of African Africans. He teams up with a voluptious Cuban guerrila fighter. They do the horizontal bop and then get mixed up with a bunch of underground-dwelling, light-hating, human-enslaving, brain-dead freaks controlled by a telepathic super queen.
There's enough interesting anthopological and biological science tossed in with some goofy characterizations and schoolboy sex to make this an acceptable time waster.

Econ 101

Ramesh Ponneru doesn't like the Fair Tax.

Our bidness

Mark Steyn responds to Howell Raines.

Your Sunday free tune

Jerry Jeff and Suzy Boggus deliver a fine Night Rider's Lament. There's some chitchat at the start but Suzy looks great. From that fine old Texas Connection show which JJW hosted.

Fumento

Michael Fumento looks at a Toyota nightmare. Or was it?

Tea Partying

Room for social conservatives?

The Pacific

HBO series begins.

Books

Tammy Wynette bio sounds right depressing. Almost like a good country song.

Around town

USA Today lists Paradise Gardens as a "Wonderland" worth visiting.

It's a Corker!

Unions stand to gain big. And this is one way Chattanooga Bob benefits.

Keith Rocco and those rampaging Boers

Military Heritage is probably my favorite history magazine right now. The April 2010 issue has sveral good articles including a fine one by William Welsh on the Boer Wars. Also, there's a very good look at the Napoloenic art of Keith Rocco, one of the best painters of military history around. I recommend the magazine and here's Rocco's web site. Enjoy.

My column from The Summerville News

Canadians don't make great villains.

Dope

Phoney leaders crack down on phoney pot.

Guns

Guns on campus? Georgia law advances.

On the border

Obama to rev up immigration fight? Questionable timing on this one unless it's just a shuck and jive meeting.

Chris Matthews is a doofus

On his show last night Matthews said that the biggest problem facing Charlie Rangel -- who he had just acknowledged he "loved" -- was "facts." Matthews didn't say this with humor. He said it like the facts of Rangel's multiple ethics problems were fleas which just couldn't quite be swatted away. It wasn't Rangel's wrongdoing that was the problem, it was that these pesky "facts" were coming out in the NY Times, which Matthews said earler was picking on his beloved Charlie.
Embarrassing.

Politics

Why would a mayor of Philadelphia want to stick it to the working man? Who does he think this proposed tax is going to impact the most?

A fine tune

Dave Alvin and Rosie Flores combine forces.

Politics

They're not laughing at Rick Perry now. Texas governor looks like a threat in 2012.

The Rangel angle

D.C. scuzzbucket steps down TEMPORARILY. I suspect this "temporary" surrender of the gavel will lead to his fellow Democrats calling off the dogs. That means no more investigations of Rangel's numerous questionable activities.

The Rangel angle

Corruption busting Nancy Pelosi is still backing him but it looks like Charlie Rangel is on the brink.

Guns

It's a showdown according to the Christian Science Monitor.

William Tenn, RIP

Another sci fi elder statesman passes.

Reds

Don't be surprised when Putin himself suits up in 2014. The Russkies aren't happy with their Olympic performance and heads are going to roll -- hopefully not literally -- in that nation's sports establishment. The only question is how many sports will Putin be able to compete in.

Georgia XGR

The (horse) show must go on. Budget includes $9 million for horse facility in Perdue's back 40. Meanwhile, the state is selling off crime labs for lack of funding.

Rachel Jones wins beauty contest

Some stories are easier to write than others.

Guns

The Big Court looks at state, local gun control laws.