Kenny Rogers, 81, died of natural causes on March 20, 2020.
Photo by Jack Dennis at the Majestic Theater in San Antonio, Texas.
One of the best-selling artists of all time, Kenny Rogers encompassed many music genres with over 120 hit singles. In the U.S., he charted country, pop, and contemporary charts more than 200 separate weeks. Worldwide, he sold more than 112 million records over a span of seven decades.
The recipient of numerous awards, Rogers was honored with Grammys, American Music Association, Association of Country Music, and Country Music Association accolades. He was voted the “Favorite All-Time Singer of 1986.” In 2013, Rogers was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and received the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Country Music Association.
Rogers evolved with the music of his times, beginning with a rockabilly group dubbed The Scholars, progressing through stints with The Bobby Doyle Three, The New Christy Minstrels, The First Edition, all before he became a solo artist with mega-hits like “Lucille,” “Lady,” “Love Lifted Me,” “Coward of the Country,” and “The Gambler.”
He teamed up with Dottie West and Dolly Parton for such hits as “Every Time Two Fools Collide,” “Anyone Who Isn’t Me Tonight,” “What Are We Doin’ in Love,” “All I Ever Need Is You,” and “Islands in the Stream.”
Following are the top five all-time best lyrics from Kenny Rogers:
5. ‘DECORATED MY LIFE’
Like a rhyme with no reason in an unfinished song There was no harmony life meant nothin’ to me, until you cam along And you brought out the colors, what a gentle surprise Now I’m able to see all the things life can be shinin’ soft in your eyes
And you decorated my life, created a world where dreams are a part And you decorated my life by paintin’ your love all over my heart
4. ‘SHE BELIEVES IN ME’
And she believes in me, I’ll never know just what she sees in me I told her someday if she was my girl, I could change the world With my little songs, I was wrong But she has faith in me, and so I go on trying faithfully And who knows maybe on some special night, if my song is right I will find a way, while she waits… while she waits for me!
3. ‘COWARD OF THE COUNTRY’
“I promised you, Dad, not to do the things you done. I walk away from trouble when I can. Now please don’t think I’m weak, I didn’t turn the other cheek, and Papa, I sure hope you understand: Sometimes you gotta fight when you’re a man.”
2. LUCILLE
You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille With four hungry children and a crop in the field. I’ve had some bad times, I’ve lived through some sad times, But this time the hurtin’ won’t heal. You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille.
1 ‘THE GAMBLER’
You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em Know when to walk away, know when to run. You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table. There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done.
The Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton hit, Islands in the Stream, was written by The BeeGees
Country Music’s Carly Pearce is celebrating the release of her EP, “29” and will make her 80th appearance at the Grande Ole Opry in Nashville on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021.
“Every Little Thing” was the first song that Pearce ever wrote with Michael Busbee, her longtime collaborator and producer. They co-wrote what would become her biggest solo hit with Emily Shackelton. Rolling Stone said Busbee “shaped much of the musical structure and sparse arrangement of Pearce’s stately torch ballad, which became a Number One at country radio.”
“It’s almost uncomfortable stripped-down and I think in those moments, you’re left with the silence,” Pearce said at the time.
Busbee died in September 2019 at age 43, leaving a legacy of producing such songs as Keith Urban’s (featuring Carrie Underwood) “The Fighter,” Pink’s “Try,” and Maren Morris’ “My Church.”
In memory of Busbee’s passing Pearce took to social media to remember him with a video.
“I sang ‘every little thing’ tonight through broken tears with thousands of voices and cell phone lights in the air, because I asked them to raise them up high so you could see them shining from heaven,” she said. “What a beautiful sight it was. You gave my music a place in this world. I’ll cherish the 2 albums, songs, talks, laughs & memories we shared over the years. My heart is broken, but the legacy of your talents and your heart will live on in all of the artists and people you touched. I love you, Busbee.”
Like so many, Pearce has dealt with much torment during 2020 and coming back to the Opry is a cherished relief.
Busbee death and the pandemic “was an opportunity to get back to my roots.”
Even after 2020, Pearce thinks “the biggest overall thing for me is that I have still felt so connected to fans,” she said as she prepares for her Opry appearance. “And, ‘I Hope You’re Happy Now’ gave me a second Number One song on the charts. I couldn’t ask for much more.”
“I always dreamt of singing on the Opry,” Pearce reflects. “When I was 16, I wanted to sing at Dollywood, so I convinced my parents to let me audition and quit school to sing there.”
“I moved to Nashville in 2009 and had a typical overnight success,” she said. “I worked odd jobs and never gave up. And then in 2019, the Opry let me debut before I had anything really going on. It’s great that I’ve had the experience and support from the Opry from the beginning.”
If she could sing with any performer in the world, who would she pick?
“Dolly Parton! I think she’s been such a huge influence and working with her at Dollywood… she’s the ultimate leading lady of country music.”
“My inspirations? I think back to the late 90s women to Patty Loveless, Dixie Chicks, Lee Ann Womack, and so many more.”
“My grandmother who is no longer here, she was a special lady. And my mom is my best friend, who I admire very much. In music, there is only one Dolly! And the country women of the 90s, Jeannie Seely, Loretta Lynn, and just all of the ladies who have made a mark on country music.”
When asked by Rebecca Jensen Hensen from the Opry last week “what was the first time in the Circle like for you versus going into the 80th?,” Pearce replied:
“I love it! The biggest difference is that I wanted to throw up the first time. And now it feels like family — it’s comfortable, but I still get butterflies.”
“I definitely dress up more for a performance at the Opry,” she explained. “I take it really seriously and want to honor the history of the Opry. But I have fun with the looks, sometimes more purple, sometimes retro, sometimes fringe. Eddie Stubbs (who retired July 29, 2020 after being the host announcer at the Opry 25 for years) once told me that he appreciated that I dressed up for the Opry stage.”
Pearce talked about her new album, “29.”
“Well, 29 is a really pivotal year for everyone. You think certain things will turn out differently than they do, but you’re still hopeful about life. I think things happened that I didn’t think would happen and the music is a representation of those things.”
“Also, winning a CMA award really gave me the confidence that people want to hear what I have to say. And this is me!”
________________________
Excerpt of “29” review by SavingCountryMusic.com
__________________________
For inspiration, Pearce has been playing back at the Listening Room Cafe in Nashville.
“It’s what I used to do back in the day to see what songs people liked. It’s all about where it all started and going back to my roots.”
“I think we’re really on a great trajectory of what’s to come and I’m just really proud to be one of the ladies in country music. I have seen such a change and a shift in the last few years and I’m happy to be a part of it.”
Her advice for young women aspiring to be in country music?
“Figure out who you are and never waiver from that. You have to out work the boys. And make sure that you know what you have to say and that it means something.”
1976 was the Bicentennial of America and it was a big year for me.
A journalism major at Southwest Texas State University (SWT), I won statewide in reporting and columnist writing awards for news, entertainment, fine arts and humor.
My confidence was high, but being honored as Investigative Reporter of the Year Award at the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Press Association in Tucson that April, made me feel unstoppable.
I took the picture of Elvis on his new motorcycle the morning after I met him. Eastwood and me. 1976.
By early May, I interviewed the one and only Elvis Presley in Memphis–an incredible feat at the time. That summer I scored an interview with Clint Eastwood at the McNay Art Institute in San Antonio.
How could I follow those up?
‘Cousin’ Jerry King and George Strait
A friend of my family, Country Music DJ legend Jerry King, was able to arrange a sit down with Willie Nelson for me. I’ve known King since the days he was part of “Jerry & Ray” with Ray Smith in the early 1960s.
King and Strait. Right, I took this shot of King backstage at the Majestic Theater before he was due to introduce Nelson…or George Jones…or Merle Haggard…LOL, I can’t remember.
Smith lived on the Southside of San Antonio, around the corner on Commercial Avenue, from my childhood home on West Ansley Blvd.
Jerry and Ray would perform on our front porch, along with my Uncle Sherman Sanders, for family and neighbors. Smith passed away in 1973, I believe and King carried on with his fabled career at KKYX.
It was Jerry King who played the first song of George Strait ever aired on radio.
Nelson was at his peak.
I did my research. King was kind and helpful. I went to the now legendary Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, where a fellow classmate and wanna-be country singer named George Strait would sometimes appear.
Strait, tired from the weekend gigs, would sit next to me in the hall outside our business class in the BAM (Business-Agriculture-Math) building.
George Strait at Cheatham Street during our SWT days in San Marcos.
Most of our conversations were small talk as we crammed for class, but I do remember him as a sincere and conscientious guy. Plus, he was the student who turned me on to the Cheatham Street scene.
From King and the staff at Cheatham Street, I learned two things about Nelson that might have helped me.
1. He had a sister named Bobbie. My sister is Bobbi.
2. He liked Manske Rolls, a local treat–a better and larger version of a cinnamon roll.
Siblings Bobbie and Willie. Manske Roll.
The Interview and Lone Star Beer
“All I can say is thank goodness for our grandparents,” Willie Nelson told me. “If it weren’t for them, I’m not too sure where Bobbie and I would be, or if even we would be.”
It was the fall of 1976. Nelson was in San Marcos, Texas for a show in conjunction with the Chilympiad, a festival and cookoff to determine winning contestants who would be graduating up to compete in the World Championship Chili Cookoff in Terlingua, near Big Bend National Park.
I had seen Nelson play a few times, the first being at a touring Grand Ole Opry show at age seven, in 1963. It was in the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium. Roy Orbison, Minnie Pearl, Claude King, and Don Gibson were also there.
In 1972, Nelson joined other music and radio personalities at a Country and Western Stars versus Your Favorite DJ’s Basketball Tournament for charity at San Antonio’s McCollum High School’s gymnasium. It was there future Country and Western DJ Hall of Famer, “Cousin” Jerry King was able to help me in for my first significant high school reporting interviews.
McCollum High today. Nelson at his high school.
Jana Gower, the editor for the University Star, Southwest Texas State University’s student newspaper, would interview him later that evening. Although her interview would be much longer, as managing editor it was okay by me, because I had scored (with Jerry King’s help) some quality time with him that early afternoon at Gil’s Broiler on LBJ Drive.
We sat in the far back booth of the narrow restaurant, him with his back to the front counter and door. It’s hard to fathom that at this point in life, Nelson was already 43, a year more than what Elvis Presley would be just 11 months later, the year of his death.
Nelson wiped the crumbs of a Manske Roll from his famous mouth and began talking about his paternal grandparents. Not long after his birth on April 29, 1933, Nelson’s mother, Myrle Marie Greenhaw-Nelson, died. His father, Ira Doyle Nelson, a mechanic, remarried and moved away. Nelson and his sister Bobbie moved in with their grandparents.
Willie and Bobbie were taught music and sang gospel songs in their local church in Abbott, Texas.
Willie picking at Cheatham Street Warehouse.
“My Grandpa, William, was a blacksmith, and he bought me this guitar, you see, and showed me a few chords,” Nelson grinned. “I was six.”
By the next year, he wrote his first song and by age ten, Willie was playing guitar with a local band called Bohemian Polka. He became their lead vocalist by high school and enjoyed singing the music of Hank Williams, Bob Wills, and Lefty Frizzell.
He joined the Air Force in 1950 but was discharged because of back problems. Nelson went to Waco and studied at Baylor University for a couple of years but continued to be drawn to country music.
“Yeah, I knew I needed to be in the music business by then,” Nelson said. “I cut my teeth deejayin’ here and there (in Texas), but started out with Dr. (Ben) Parker, there at KBOP down in Pleasanton, and moved out to Vancouver (Washington) for a spell. That’s when my writing started to take off.”
“In the late 50s, while Elvis was joining the Army, I moved back to (Houston) Texas to join D Records,” Nelson explained. “That was pretty much a worthwhile time for writing songs and then I decided to go up to Nashville.”
During this period in Houston, Nelson penned classic country hits like “Crazy,” “Hello Walls,” “Funny How Time Slips Away,” “Night Life,” “Mr. Record Man,” and “The Party’s Over” which were recorded by artists such as Patsy Cline, Faron Young and Ray Price.
Nelson with Ray Price.
He joined Price’s band as a bass player in 1960 while living in Nashville and by 1962, Nelson recorded his first album.
“Well, that album helped me out and I have to say I was proud to get a contract with the same label as Elvis, with RCA (Victor in 1964), and was asked to join the Grand Ole Opry,” Nelson recalled. “I eventually came back here (to central Texas), we started this July 4th Picnics (in 1973), and the rest is history.”
That history includes 1973’s Shotgun Willie, 1975’s Red Headed Stranger, 1978’s Stardust and 1980’s Honeysuckle Rose. He evolved into one of the founders of what was called “Outlaw Country,” to buck the Nashville system, with friends like Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash. Along the way he recorded mega-hits such as “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before,” “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” and “Pancho & Lefty.” Cash, Jennings, Kristofferson and Nelson became The Highwaymen.
When I asked what plans he had “going on now,” he grinned.
“I’m kind of doing what Lone Star Beer is doing. I’m marketing myself to the college crowds, people like you.”
“We call it the ‘Youth Market,’ so I’m informally sort of teaming up with them (Lone Star) and they make sure I have plenty of beer.”
I thought he was joking with me, but later noticed during his show, he raised a can of what would eventually be known as “The National Beer of Texas.”
Willie at Cheatham Street swigging Lone Star.
“Cheers,” he winked, and took a big swallow. His entire band had Lone Stars lined up.
On the Road Again
Jennings and Nelson ended the 1970s with giants hits “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” and “Good Hearted Woman,” and began the 1980s with “On the Road Again,” and “You Were Always On My Mind.”
Willie Nelson became a bona fide movie star in 1979 with the success of The Electric Horseman, with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. He starred in Honeysuckle Rose with Dyan Cannon and Amy Irving in 1980. This led to roles in Thief, Barbarosa, Wag the Dog, and Stagecoach.
I took this photo of Nelson, Dyan Canon and Amy Irving during the filming of Honeysuckle Rose, 1979.
In 1993, Nelson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and he received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1998.
On April 9, 2015, Nelson twittered that he “just completed filming Waiting For The Miracle to Come with Sophie Lowe. She’s an amazing talent.” On May 5, 2015, Willie Nelson’s autobiographical book, “It’s a Long Story,” was released.
Today, he has been restless like most of the world dealing with the pandemic and anxious to be on the road again. His album, “First Rose of Spring,” was released during the peak of summer but he was unable to tour and promote it as usual. Concerts in Alabama, Kansas, New Jersey, Indiana and Oklahoma were postponed.
In September, he took his Farm Aid 2020 to SiriusXM on “Willie’s Roadhouse” for a virtual concert. John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Dave Matthews and others joined in.
The Orpheum Theater in Memphis is set to host him on November 22, 2020. Other dates on the schedule include Abilene, Texas-March 19, 2021; New Buffalo, Mississippi-April 23, 2021; Lexington, Kentucky-April 21,2021; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 26, 2021; Nashville, Indiana-April 28,2021; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-August 5,2021; Brookings, South Dakota-August 11,2021; and back to Texas in Arlington-August 21 and New Braunfels-October 8 & 9, 2021.
Willie and George.
Like this article? Click “NOTIFY ME…” below for an email reminder when we post another. Thanks for your readership.
A perfect storm of three thundering biker rallies and two Trump Train events will be rolling through the Cowboy Capital of the World region deep in Texas Hill Country this first weekend of October.
The 19th Annual Texas Hill Country Thunder Rally is back with an October 1-4, 2020 event to be held at Bandera’s Mansfield Park on Hwy-16.
Consisting of tent camping, poker run, vendors, food, and field events, there will be music throughout the day Friday and Saturday. Their bike show, tattoo contest, and Sunday morning church service are popular. 21 OR OVER, NO EXCEPTIONS.
Because of 2020 health concerns, there will be a covered stage to enjoy outdoor concerts and contests in “the wide-open fresh air, under the bright stars of the beautiful Texas Hill Country. The big bar has been relocated under the Pavilion and close to the stage.”
“Ride the beautiful Texas Hill Country all day then come back and shop with our many vendors,” their promotional material states. “Enjoy your meals with one of nine Food vendors located outside the Barn, then go shop with over 30 Inside Vendors (spaced out) and over 40 Outside Vendors, before enjoying the evening concerts and contests.”
“The fun doesn’t stop when the sun goes down. We start it off loud! Hot Bands rock the night away…We will treat you so many ways you are bound to like one or two.”
The 19th Annual Frogs for Freedom Hill Country Motorcycle Ride proceeds will help widows and children of fallen SEAL team members and Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen Warriors (SWCC).
The ride will be held at the ‘Biggest Little Bar in Texas,’ the 11th Street Bar on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020.
The first Frog event raised $9,000. In 2017, the group raised an historical $43,000.
Rain or shine, registration opens at 9:00 a.m. with the first bike leaving at 10 a.m. Preregistration ends Sept. 30, 2020.
The fun event includes a collector ride shirt, the ride, a Bar-B-Que plate, live music, dancing, 50/50, door prizes and a live auction. The street will be blocked off to accommodate motorcycles and festivities.
From October 1 @ 8:00 am through October 3 @ 5:00 pm the “Rally On The River” 2020 has great bands lined up for their 3-day private event on the Medina River.
This event has five cabins, and 100- 50/30/20amp Full Hook-Up RV Sites here on the Event Grounds.
The BOERNE Trump Train along with the Kendall County Republican Party will be participating in the National MAGA Drag The Interstate on Oct 3rd from 10:30-1:30.
The BOERNE Trump Train’s last MAGA drag had approximately 700+ vehicles participating. The BOERNE Trump Train group has an impressive 2500 members that are participating in Train’s twice a week with many individuals coming from small towns around Kendall County.
The GOP headquarters in Boerne, Kerrville, San Antonio and New Braunfels are seeing record numbers of volunteers this year.
“The energy, enthusiasm, and patriotism that this group displays has been recognized by other cities around Boerne,” Becky Stokes, a spokesperson said. These cities are “asking for our participation in their Trump Train rides. We believe the October 3rd Trump Train Ride ride will be the biggest ever for this little town.”
Just down the road from the iconic Three Twisted Sisters are some legendary beautiful hill country cruises.
Restaurants
Keese’s BBQ serves breakfast and comfort food food lunches in Medina.
Popular eateries in the area include OST Restaurant, Brick’s Restaurant, Busbee’s BBQ in Bandera; Camp Verde Restaurant in Camp Verde; Keese’s BBQ, The Core Pizza, the Patio Cafe at the Apple Orchard.
This was a lot of brand new word learning for a someone who just wanted to play Superman or Lone Ranger.
Unknown words, like “school,” “astronaut,” and “lunchbox,” were cropping up. Heck, I was just interested in understandable verbage like “Up Up and Away” or “Hiyo Silver.” “Kemosabe” was stretching it. But the one that caught me off guard was “Mosquito.”
Mosquito sounded frightening. And when I saw the concern and quick actions of response from my dad and grandfather to them attacking us, it was pure terror.
A few days after the mosquito bit our mother, my baby sister and I were wisked away to our grandparents house. Dad rushed our mom to his parents’ physican, Dr. Gossett.
Time has faded my memory somewhat. Perhaps it’s a built-in survival mechanism, but I tend to have a proneness for blocking out tragedy and catastrophic events that cut deep to the core.
What I do recall was sleeping on different couches, beds and pallets. Against the confusion and insecurities that a 5-year-old “big brother” had, I marshaled whatever was available in me to take care of Bobbi. It is the first time ever that I recollect feeling protective of my sister.
Our grandmother Ruby Floyd and our mother Geraldine Dennis.
Our father had only been a police officer for a few years. With the support of both sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends, on his days off he’d join up with our maternal grandmother to do what they could for Mom and us.
It had not been so long ago, just a bit over a month, our family had seen Roy Rogers and Dale Evans live in the Joe Freeman Coliseum at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. Even Roy’s horse Trigger was there.
Topping it off was my new Space Explorer lunch box with a rocket thermos jug inside. It was so fancy, I would be taking it to someplace called a “school” in September. Life was going so good.
But our Mom? She was just a “Sleeping Beauty” right now, my Dad explained.
Several doctors had looked over our mother, but there was no progress. She remained in a motionless, lethargic stupor. No talking. No awareness. Almost “like a statue, just laying there in bed,” my grandmother told me years later.
A few days after seeing Roy Rogers at the Rodeo, I sat on my own ‘Trigger.” Feb. 1961. Our Mother in 1959.
There was a young doctor, Ron Botkin, who offered hope. I don’t know how they found him originally, but Dad said he wasn’t fond of Dr. Gossett. Botkin had delivered my sister Bobbi just 16 months prior.
“Gossett acted like he was more interested in getting back to his cows on his ranch than he was helping Mama,” he explained years later. “I talked with Dr. Botkin. He seemed smart and had the knowledge and latest perspectives of practicing medicine. I trusted him.”
Soon Dr. Botkin summoned our father and grandmother to his office on South Presa.
“Has she by any chance been bitten by insects, maybe a mosquito?” he asked.
Immediately they said yes and told them about the front yard mosquito invasion on the night of astronaut Alan Shepard’s flight into space.
The doctor explained that lab work indicated she had an “arbovirus,” a virus commonly transmitted by mosquitos.
“This confirms my suspicions and diagnosis that Geraldine has encephalitis,” Dr. Botkin announced. “It’s commonly called ‘sleeping’ or ‘sleepy sickness.'”
I kept a 1961 San Antonio Light newspaper clipping indicating “Outbreaks of mosquito‐borne encephalitis in 13 states, reaching epidemic proportions in at least two, have led Federal health officials to forecast that this will be the worst year in the last decade for the potentially fatal, virus‐caused disease.”
“As of last Friday, the Federal Center for Disease Control in Atlanta had recorded 357 probable and confirmed cases, including 42 deaths.”
“Although the epidemic has subsided in Mississippi, where there were 224 cases and 32 deaths, new cases were being reported last week at an increasing rate in other states. It reached epidemic proportions in Illinois, which reported 90 cases, including eight deaths concentrated in the Chicago area.”
Roy Rogers, Tonto and Lone Ranger, I Love Lucy, Dick Clark.
Weeks went by and I missed my Mom. But any Baby Boomer from the 1950s and 60s can understand how I found solace with my heroes. Roy Rogers, Davy Crockett, Alan Shepard and the Lone Ranger. They were there to help me assemble the courage needed to help with Sister and “be a good boy for Momma.”
Momma and I had this routine every Saturday. She’d make us snacks just in time so we could watch American Bandstand. Dick Clark, as televisions’ favorite DJ type host, would announce the Top Ten Songs each week while popular teens would wiggle, shake, glide and slide to their latest dance moves.
We enjoyed special guests like Dion and the Belmonts singing “Runaround Sue,” or Chubby Checker introducing “The Twist.”
Mom and I would dance along with regulars like Arlene and Kenny or Justine and Bob. She and our next door neighbor, Betty Lewis, could tell if any of the dance couples were more in love than the week before and who was not. It was quite an event if a couple switched partners even during just one dance on any given broadcast.
During the weekdays we would watch “Pete and Gladys” (with Henry Morgan) together. Neighbor Scott Lewis and I would play while his mom Betty and my mother would watch a new series, “Dr. Kildare” and the soap opera “As the World Turns” and “One Life to Live.” When we were lucky, his sister Vicki would entertain us with her award winning baton twirling talents.
My favorites to watch with Dad were “Roy Rogers” and “The Lone Ranger.” But by myself, I obediently viewed the “Our Gang-Little Rascals” series, “I Love Lucy” and especially “Superman.”
In fact, every night when I prayed to God, I would ask if he would “pretty please send Superman to San Antonio to save my Momma from the Sleeping Sickness. I miss her God. I love her and I love You too. Amen.”
You’ll never believe what God did. Or maybe, you will.
To be continued. For email notifications of new posts, please click below.
I posted “Tell me something about yourself that sounds made up but is 100% true.” Hundreds replied, all interesting, some incredible. Here are some of the answers. “✔” received the most attention.
Kathy Alexander Power: I was electrocuted and died.
Ray Morris: I had a small part in a porn flick
Johnny Means: I spent a night with headhunters on the island of Borneo.
✔Karl Link: My dad n 8 other crew members in a refueling plane in Air Force, were lost in Bermuda Triangle in 1962, when I was 4 n my brother was one.
My mom still has all the telegrams, from Air Force telling her what was going on, during those 6 weeks. Their little story in a book called Limbo of the Lost…I’ve carried a copy of that article in “all” of my wallets, since I was 20… my mom had a rough beginning, first dad goes missing, then I’m 10, n brother dies at 7 from leukemia…
just me n my mom from then on, she finally remarried when I was about 25. They were married about 30 yrs. n he died from a stroke. She’s 81 n still living in Helotes, by herself, but has a ton of church friends, who keep an eye on her for me. I live in Dallas. I’ll move her up here, if the time comes.
Yeah, my whole life, the looks on people’s faces, or their reactions, when they hear about my dad n the triangle…
I guess not too many people know anyone who has experienced the triangle mystery. What’s even worse is he was in for 2 years, civilian life for a year, but couldn’t find a good job, so re-enlisted, then bam…I remember reading one of the last telegrams, about 6 weeks after missing, that said not one piece of anything from plane was ever found…
Holly Friesenhahn: I can shoot the bird with my middle toe
Deborah A. Clary: I write upside down.
Donna Brady: I can sing the National Anthem with a fabulous soprano voice without missing a beat or the lyrics.
Valerie Loop: I don’t have a belly button.
Chuck Ellenwood: I have a green thumb.
Dortha Ayres: I hitchhiked from San Antonio, TX to Denver, CO.
Sandy McCulloch: Owned/operated 18wheeler, hauled cattle, chickens and produce throughout U.S.
✔Catherine Schwartz: I was abducted when I was 4 1/2 years old after becoming seperated from my mother and younger brothers while shopping in downtown Liverpool, U.K. (birthplace). A well dressed young woman told me she would help find my mummy. We got into a backseat of a car and sped off. Long story short, I left through a back door while the couple were fighting. I believe to this day, God led me out of that dangerous situation. Was found by police walking on a road. Had been gone 13 hours. Police told my mother she was lucky to get me back. I’ve been ‘lucky’ ever since.
Carlene Gladman: I called the Chamber of Commerce in Cincinnati and pleaded my case for tickets to see Elvis in March 21st 1976… I told him, I just had to see him, as I never am in time to buy the tickets….he told me if I can get to Sears in 45 min…they will come through their teletron, he’d only be in his office for that amount of time, if they would say there are sold out, then call my number, and Sears did, and my tickets came through…..almost down in front…..now who would ever think of calling the Chamber of Commerce, it just came to me, best time of my life!!!
Denise Cryer Haenel: I used to wear real lizards as earrings.
✔Susan Jackson Belsey: I am related to Micheal Jackson, cousins.
Michael T. Dennis: According to my wife(since I can’t see it), I have a nipple on my left buttock.
Kathleen Richardson-Prager: 1. I have over 100 Dopeys , yes Disney’s Dopey , they are all different. 2. I have photographed 57 of Prince Edward Island’s 60 lighthouses ( 3 are accessible only by boat).
Jamie Joslin: I survived a yard dart to the noggin’.
Cindy Oates Couch: I have giving birth to 3 sets of twins.
Tina Zoe Carpenter-Kannady: I’ve had 6 back surgeries.I saw Elvis Presley in concert in 1976 when I was 14 years old.
✔Bill Barrett: I fell out of a bed of a truck when I was 10 years old ,the truck was traveling between 40-50 mph didn’t even get a scratch !
Kristen Springer: I have belly danced with lights on my costume, the downtown streets of San Antonio in the pouring rain Fiesta flambeau 2013
Geneva Lang: I married when 15 years old in 1961 still married to the same man!
✔Kyle Brittain: I once blew myself up while attempting to clear a gas leak. Leak successfully cleared! It was pretty epic! It blew me off my feet and I landed on the prep station. My friend on the other side of the line said the entire kitchen was a fire ball, wall to wall. Not sure how I didn’t get burned.
Patti Ortiz: My dad use to throw fireworks at me on New Years or 4th of July when I was a kid.
Mitzi Keeton: I once cleaned human brains off the floor and walls after someone committed suicide in my son’s home.
Kathy Callahan Cury: I ran away from home and joined a circus
Mike Clary: I once nearly blew myself up while trying to ignite a very old jar of black powder !!! 勞 Thanks to my brother John Clary… Oh and I had a 5-1/2’ pet Rattlesnake in my bedroom in a aquarium for several years…
Roger Robinson: I performed on stage with Willie Nelson
Joe Bernal: I worked at the airport in San Antonio for American Airlines before I moved to Arlington. I upgraded a couple going on their honeymoon from coach to first class. Elsa Anaya (high school classmate) was the bride in that party of 2.
Christopher Tebo: I am direct decendent of Leopold I, II and III the Princes of Anhalt-Dessau. Two of these were Fieldmarshalls in the wars of Austrian, Spanish and Bavarian Successions; and also during the Seven Years War all fighting for the kings of Prussia.
Also decended from William of Orange. Albert the Bear who founded Berlin. And am descended from William the Conqueror too.
I am also related to Catherine the Great(she is from the House of Anhalt too) Empress of Russia (she was crazy). And am decended from the House of Hannover which later became the Windsors going back to George the 1st but my connection is further back. This also means I am related to the Kaiser of Germany and Czar Alexander of Russia. As well as the current queen of England and her family.
All of this from my mother’s side of the family. Technically she is the Baroness Von Seherr-Thoss. The old land holding is in Braunfels, Germany belonging to her great grandmother. I have no clue as to the disposition of the property since WWI or WWII. As her only child, I would inherit her title if ever reactivated.
I only discovered much of this, this month. My mother did tell me of being descended from William the Conqueror but I thought it must have been of indirect decent.
On my father’s side we had an ancestor that fought in the American Revolution for only a few months. This means my ancestors fought on opposing sides of the Revolution… lol He changed his name from Frankenburg to Frankenberry due to anti-Hessian sentiment.
Marvin Hepworth: I once spent an hour trying to talk a cop out of arresting me for something I didn’t do, while my cousin hid in the bathroom.
Patti Herred Werley: My grandfather donated Santa Anna’s pistols to a museum in Austin.
Bob Berger: My uncle was a demolition engineer in Hitlers Army during WWII.
Debbie Berger: I was a disco dance instructor
Peg Watson Malicki: I am more Native American Indian then Elizabeth Warren!
Sheryl Marker: I was John Schneider’s (aka Bo Duke) bodyguard during an event in San Antonio.
Dodie McMeans: I met Jimmy Buffet when he had his recording studio on the island of Montserrat. Before the volcano blew.
Debbie Anderson Crowther: I have 2 grandchildren who are descendants of Lucy Maude Montgomery. For those that don’t know who she is she wrote Anne of Green Gables
Dominique Marie: I was invited on the Ellen and Oprah show ♀️
Linda Bachhofer: I jumped off a moving train!
Barbara Cullum Masters: I broke my back rollerskating down parking garage ramp
Jennifer Manning Dunmire: I took accordion lessons when I was in elementary school.
Judith Coghlin Lewis: Years ago I saw Mohammed Ali in the Atlanta Airport I ran up to meet him and on my tiptoes I could barely tap him on his shoulder. He was very nice to me !!! I am 5’7 inches tall and my head was just a bit above his waistline. He was huge
John Anglin: I’m related to LBJ
✔William Hammac: I was hit by a car when I was 6, ran over by a car when I was 10, and ran into a van when I was 14, and fell out of a van when I was 18.
Lisa Thomson: I’m not a natural blonde. No it’s true.
Wallace Dunn: I flew on Con-Air shackled hand and foot.
Michael Kotze: I used to race pigeons as a kid with my grandfather.
Gary Roe: I was in a play at Magik Children’s Theatre. I was also in the movie, Johnnie B Good.
Stephen Moody: I once swam a flooding San Antonio River to kill a 200lb hog my dogs had bayed. He jumped in the river, swam towards me and we wrestled in the rushing water until he drowned.
✔Diane Runyan Johnson: I was pronounced dead at 18! My dad said no she’s not! I could hear him but I couldn’t answer! I was above the bed and watching them work on me! And I’m here today cause my dad keep telling them I wasn’t dead! I’ll be 69 this year! (I can remember it like it was yesterday)
Traci Doherty Mercui: I jumped off a ferry into the Atlantic the day after a shark tournament for the swim leg of a triathlon on purpose… three years in a row.
Vicki DiMambro: I was so shy in school that I couldn’t talk to anyone, but now I have over 20.000 YouTube subscribers.
Glenda Coyle: I carhopped for a restaurant in Florida wearing short shorts and roller skates! Lol!
Dale Inman: I spent 13 hours in a hyperbaric chamber
Rick Linn: I wrote and recorded a blues/r&b song that was actually played at a wedding.
✔Bill Schoening: I was the AP Radio correspondent for 29 lethal injections at the Walls Unit in Huntsville.
Walls Unit, Huntsville, Tx
Steve Butcher: I once sat in the back seat of a limo alone with Joey Heatherton.
Melody Green Booth: After engaging in conversation and Bible back & forth for over an hour, a Jehovah’s witness said he had to go when his people were gathering and waiting for him.
LonnieandJeanneMurdock: I once flew in a piper cub airplane with my Dad & we went so low that we were under the high line wires! Scared the bejesus out of me!
Susan Banta Farris: I arrested Ann Richards. (Former Governor of Texas).
✔Nancy Davis: When I was 15 I met a rock n roll band, was held up in their hotel room while everyone was looking for me
Abigail Hepworth: I once crossed a flooded river jumping over logs and stuff on the way so I could get my dance bag that I then had to carry above my head on the way back so it wouldn’t get wet. Wasn’t even late for ballet class
Walter Hepworth: Myself and my crew were held hostage and forced at gunpoint to make pizzas for 10hrs… Patrick Swayze was a frequent customer of mine at Pizza Hut.
✔K.C. James: I’m 60 and have never had a soda of any kind in my life..
Martin Klein: I rode an elephant in my backyard…My grandmother was my dad’s first wife. Had she lived I would never have been born.
Roy Stroman: Was part of a movie in Japan
Lois Pickart: I have a picture with Tina Turner backstage at one of her concerts.
Gayle Brown Land: I was at a party with Telly Savalis, Bo Derek, Gene Hackman, Wayne Rogers, and behind Jimmy Conner’s at a concession stand buying a hamburger.
Gayla Huerta: I bribed a Mexican prison warden to spend the night in their not so nice facility.
Roger Perry: Does being friends with Elvis’s cousin count , or dinning with General Patton’s Grandson, or flying with a cousin of Alvin York, or meeting the pitcher whose first MLB game tossed a no hitter?….Mork is my cousin!
Sandra Kivett Leonard: I am seventy plus & have never been drunk; not even close!
✔Sherry Freitag: I fell out of my family’s car on Military Drive. Lost my two front teeth, split my lip, and hurt my big toe.
Belinda Creekmore Zimmerman: I was a pregnant roughneck in the west Texas oilfields in 1980. I broke my back 3 times and am still not paralyzed.
Cindy Pozos: Ramon has swam in the Aegean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico before he was 13 years old… Ramon and I climbed to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun and saw both ends of a rainbow in Mexico on our honeymoon
Allison Clark: I caddied in a foursome in Heidelberg, Germany in 1969 with General Westmoreland, General Polk, Lieutenant General Hinches and Lieutenant General Taylor. General Westmoreland had relinquished command in Vietnam and the Pentagon sent him to Germany for R&R. He arrived in street clothes. The golf club gave him new clubs, new bag and new golf shoes and sent him out to play. We all rode-in in golf carts from the 15th hole because Westmoreland said the new shoes pinched his feet…I met President Reagan at Walter Reed AMC and Bush 43 at Madigan AMC, Ft Lewis when they came to visit. I met SecDef Rumsfeld, twice in the same tour, in Baghdad in 2007. I gave Toby Keith a hospital tour when he visited the same year…I met Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long in Kosovo in 2003…My great, great, great, great grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War with the New Jersey state militia in 1777. His son, my great, great, great grandfather fought in the War of 1812, US 15th Infantry Regiment, 1812 to 1817.
Carol Watson: I’m 55 and use to play rugby league
Rosario Perez Polanco: one year I took my children to the public library where they had arts and crafts and the media took my photo along with two of my children. We came out in the paper. On TV, I was working the Santa booth, part time, and TV crews snapped a video of me taking pictures of kids with Santa and saying, “say cheese”.
John Marsh: I received 2nd place in a Texas State swing dance competition in 1987.
✔Carol Nowell: Elvis kissed me four times!!
✔Tim Langston: I was named by the Big Bopper
✔Suzanne Pope Kirchstein: I had Ozzie Osborne kicked out of a night club in 1982.
Kay Lett: Well I did play hooky and go roller skating the day JFK got shot. Yes sisters got home before me and I was in some kinda trouble.
✔Susan Galle Garner: My ancestor Johann Gottfried Galle helped discover NEPTUNE (it’s also in the National Space Museum in Washington) and therefore is a crater on the moon named Galle and it looks like a smiley face.
✔Patricia Hensen: I lived a block from Lee Harvey’s Oswald. Did not know his family!!
Andrienne Hurley Wagenknecht: Rode on a plane and Ted Nugent he sat just ahead of us.
Doug Clark: In my party days, I use to stand on my head and drink a beer
Joanne Cruz Tenery: I’ve got 2: (1) Pete Incaviglia has my number and calls occasionally regarding his baseball teams. (2) I first talked with Don Henley as we crossed the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin. I knew he looked familiar, and I thought he might have been someone from high school or college. The second time, we were paying our checks at Mia’s Tex Mex restaurant in Dallas, and chatted about the food. I have never encountered my next door neighbors ANYwhere, yet I’ve chatted with Don Henley twice.
Bob Haenel: I have been on the federal taxation rolls since I was 13 years old.
Ted Shedd: As a kid. I jumped off a 3 story building in a snow pile I just shoveled off a roof in Vermont
Connie Winters Hearne: I was robbed at gun point a few years ago at Rollings Oaks Mall. Only had $5.00 cash. Lol
Bobbe Bergen Dennis: I had lunch with Isaac Perlman, ultra violinist. Just the two of us and an interviewer.
George Cook: 1985 I dreamed about the Space Shuttle launch and explosion in October and 3 months later on my mother’s birthday January 28th 1986 it happened…1986 I met Barbara Eden at the Emmy awards in Pasadena California. I was driving limousine and she thought I was her driver! I said “I wish I was!” Then we both turned towards the media and smiled. I looked good in a tuxedo!
Debbie Riddle: I got to visit with Debbie Reynolds as we rode in the limousine together going to Bush Intercontinental Airport. Also got to sit next to Charlton Heston at a special dinner. But the best of all, I get to be the wife of Mike Riddle and enjoy an amazing life with him. We also are so blessed to have all our kids and grandkids. That is an amazing blessing…I was named chairman of a gala – so I could choose the theme. Because I love Audrey Hepburn I wanted it to be the theme of “Run For The Roses”. My dress was made in NY an exact replica of the one Ms. Hepburn wore in My Fair Lady. We brought some of our show horses & Clay Walker brought some of his horses. We walked those horses down the center isle at Shirley Acres (it was new) & everyone had a great time. Clay Walker even sang a few songs! It was an amazing and most unusual evening!
✔Dawn Anthony: I almost drowned in a hotel swimming pool at Rockport TX when I was 7, and had an outer body experience. I ran into the Street when I was eight and let a car drive over me because I was centered, they were pissed. My coat got caught in the door when my mom drop me off at school like we are you were in fast and knocked on the window she stopped. I was hit by a truck’s side mirror on graduation night at 35 mph, Threw me on to the hood of my car, I was standing by my door. I ran into the back of a delivery truck, pushed the dash into my lap. I blocked a suicide bomber from entering the dining facility in Afghanistan.A sniper came within 6 inch from my head in Afghanistan. I survived a horrific storm in a small private plane. I survived a fire on a commercial airline and got to go down the yellow blowup slide. I survived the big earthquake in Seattle 2001. I received a direct commission on my birthday and the next morning 9/11 occurred. I shattered my right ankle in an accident last year.
Jane Fore: I kissed George Straight at a New Year concert!
Howard Kern: Won a regional acting award
Carey Hill: Married my husband 20 May 2000, he was 29 & I was 47! Yes, you read that correctly! On Friday the 13th of June 2003 I was laid off from Southwestern Bell after 29 years & 7 months but because I had turned 50 the November before, I actually got to retire.
During Thanksgiving week 2005 I started school for 3 weeks for my next career & in January 2006, I became a team truck driver w/my husband & our dog – our only child, our daughter (she was his by then because he adopted her 13 August 2003) was in the US Army stationed in South Korea, so why not? In 18 months, my hubby, our dog & I saw 41 states! This is one beautiful country. I called myself a PPT – a paid, professional tourist!
My ride came to an abrupt halt when we lost our wonderful son-in-law to a sniper bullet in Afghanistan 23 June 2007 when his son, my only grandchild was only 9 months old (he’s 13 now & the light of our lives!). At our daughter’s request I got off the truck, a wonderful ole Freightliner to stay w/her & the baby. My 49 y/o hubster & I (I’m 67 now!) will celebrate 20 years of marriage in a coupla weeks on 20 May 2020 & that’s my greatest accomplishment – my family!
Delicia Dawn: I was a bud light girl ambassador for Budweiser!
Bailey Watson: I was dropped from an 8 story tower.
Mi Mi Chucki: It was my experiences documented that had a Governor illegally jailed, pardoned, and Clinton being forced to sign United States Public Law 103-150 The “Apology Resolution” For it I have lived in quarantine for the last 22 years forced to close my business doors over night to stay alive just like everyone else is now. I am like JFK Jr Andrew Breitbart and many many others who chose life
Deborah Buckner Grona: My niece married the Governor of Michigan, John Engler, and had triplets in 1994.
✔Cheryl O’Keefe Sjodin: Elvis kissed me and it was awesome
Wesley B. Fletcher: I’m a licensed contractor who has 3 diff jobs!
Perris Marie: I was named after a squirrel in a Disney, live-action adaptation of a children’s story book, “Perri, the squirrel”. My mom loved the name Perri but she didn’t think it would be a good name for a grown woman. So, she added an “s” to the end.
Sandra Heflin: I was in a Coke commercial at age 3. In spite of being abandoned by my parents and raised solo by my Grandmother who lived in abject poverty, I had a Nanny who took me all over the globe from 8 weeks until I was 8 years old.
I have a history of “just doing” things like walking into a newspaper office and asking for a job. I walked out with a Reporter job at the age of 16. A couple of months later, a teacher suggested I audition for a play in a nearby town. I accidentally got the lead role and then had to figure out how to travel 20 miles to rehearsal.
In college, a Professor complained that the Honors Program was being defunded. I called the Texas Governor’s office and got us an appointment to talk about it. The program was saved and mysteriously got double the funding the next year.
I became the Matriarch of my family at age 32. I’ve almost died twice. I took a startup from seven states to 24 states and 7 countries with zero marketing budget and some creative LinkedIn tactics. I now have a Marketing/PR firm and I get to build other people’s companies, which is so much fun. I have a TEENAGER who has no attitude. I have been married/divorced twice and finally met the love of my life last year. It’s been a rollercoaster and I wouldn’t change a thing.
Steve Yancey: I spent a few hours with Robert Redford on a trip to Rome in 1974. Late night flight to Rome from JFK. I was on my way to Tehran. It was via Pan Am. (note to Jack…You know why I was on that trip)
John Tice: A six time world championship shootist (James Ted Bonnett) wanted me to join his team after shooting against me
Mitzi Keeton: I once covered my house and car with polka dots to piss off the homeowner’s association.
Lora Miller Machost: I went to an elementary school football game at the local deaf school to see one my new stepsons play, on my wedding day, after the limousine dropped us off at the hotel…
✔Linda Robbins: The FBI knocked on my door, and asked me what I knew about the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. I had lived in Michigan, but was living in New Jersey, had an Italian boyfriend who was road manager for a popular group, all Italians. I had dinner with their friends many times.. “Italian businessmen.”. I told them I only knew what I had read, and heard, and though a family member, and some friends had worked in the auto industry, been in the Union, I never met the man. Within a month, for several reasons, I had moved to another state, away from my Italian friends.
Elizabeth Ames Coleman: I was yelled at by incarcerated terrorists at our Guantanamo Bay detainment facility ( jail) which was by the way state of the art, cushy, and provided organic olive oil to those terrorists who demanded it)
Guy McKeon: I have actually touched a nuclear weapon, ah more than once!
Doug Becker Sr.: Guy McKeon me too
Marvin Hepworth: I met and told Bob Hope a Joke. He didn’t laugh.
✔Marrianne Sorhi Lonergan: At the age of 5 or six I was with my Dad in a small Wisconsin town almost to the upper Mi. peninsula. There was a pin ball machine near me but Dad had no change. A man he was having a beer with said: “Here kid!” and handed me some change. It was Ralph Capone- Al’s brother.
Walter Ripps: I had three holes drilled in my head
If you think and know you can do it, then you can!
In May 2006, 21 people were brought up on stage in front of 18,000 people at the Alamodome during a Get Motivated Live Conference in San Antonio.
Alamodome
There was to be a dance contest with the winner to be decided by the roar of the crowd. Instinctively, I knew I’d be chosen to go on stage. Don’t ask me how, but I was 99.99% certain of it.
As soon as I was selected to go up there I looked at my secretary and told her “I’m going to win this.” She said, “I know you are.” There was absolutely no doubt in my mind!
Placed back in a corner far stage right, and turning 50 the previous December, I knew it would require everything I could spontaneously muster and imagine to win against 20 others, all younger and obviously more athletic.
As the Beach Boys Surfin’ Safari belted out to the crowd, I shimmied, shaked, did the Watusi, Mash Potato, Jerk, Pony, Jitterbug, Moved Like Jagger, Humped Like Elvis, did the Peppermint Twist Like We Did Last Summer, waltzed and crawled around on my belly like a reptile.
Judges eliminated contestants like they did in the movie They Shoot Horses Don’t They, by simply touching a dancer’s shoulder and proclaiming, “You’re out!” baseball umpire style.
I survived the first round. Where were the oxygen tanks? I need my oxygen! Next round, you guessed it Surfin’ Friggin’ Safari again. Get your dialing finger ready for 911.
To my amazement, there were five left standing: two in military uniform, a tall former Kilgore Rangerette dancer, an obvious robotic-like contortionist, and an out-of-shape-overwhelmed H-E-B Food-Drugs facilities management executive (me).
Jack makes front page news!
Jack on front page of Express News the next day.
Guess who won a free trip for four to Walt Disney World? ….AND I was able to meet comedian Jerry Lewis and mayor Rudolph Giuliani backstage!
Clever Journeys 